Number of Acute Respiratory Viral Infections (ARVI) Cases Rising in Saratov Region

In the Saratov Region, the incidence of acute respiratory viral infections (ARVI) continues to rise — by 7.2%. These figures were presented by Deputy Health Minister Denis Graifer at a briefing of the regional Ministry of Health.

According to him, 13,398 ARVI cases were registered in the 4th week of 2026, which is almost 15% above the epidemic threshold. The increase compared to the third week was 7.2%, or 896 more cases. Of these, 268 people were hospitalized, which is 8.5% less than the previous week when 293 people were admitted to the hospital.

For the entire last year, 633,679 ARVI cases were registered, meaning every fourth resident of the Saratov Region fell ill. Compared to 2024, the ARVI incidence rate increased slightly — by 0.8%. The Ministry of Health noted a decline only in the number of community-acquired pneumonia cases — 15,192. This is 3% lower than the 2024 level.

In the 4th week of 2026, 53 COVID-19 cases were also registered. This is 5.3% less than the previous week when 56 cases were recorded. Last year, there were 5,908 cases, which is 3.4 times lower than the incidence level in 2024.

Currently, 3,219 influenza cases have also been identified. The vast majority of strains are untyped influenza A — 2,920, or 90.7% of cases. The rest are influenza A(H₃N₂) (234, or 7.3% of cases) and influenza B (65, or 2%). Furthermore, the increase in influenza incidence last year was multiple — 3.9 times. In total, 7,853 influenza cases were registered in 2025.

The first positive detections of influenza viruses were recorded in the 45th week of 2025, from November 3 to 9. In the autumn-winter season of 2025, 1,222,061 people were vaccinated against influenza — that is 51.24% of the region«s population. Of these, 925,644 were adults (75.7%) and 296,417 were children (24.3%).