Prevention of epidemics in besieged Leningrad: a historical aspect
Prevention of epidemics in besieged Leningrad played and essential role in the activities of the city authorities and the Military Council of the Leningrad Front. On February 10, 1942 the Military Council of the Leningrad Front adopted a secret resolution «On the measures to combat epidemiological diseases». Antiepidemiological work in besieged Leningrad was headed by the Leningrad Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology named after Pasteur.The spring of 1942 was a critical period for Leningrad in terms of epidemiology. On March 26, 1942 the city authorities adopted a resolution «On the 12-day mobilization of the entire working-age population to clean the courtyards, streets and embankments of the city». A massive citywide event to clean up Leningrad was to be held from March 27 to April 8. On the first day, March 27, 143,000 people went to work; on March 28 - 244,000 people; on March 31 - 304,000 people. In the course of the work, the Leningraders removed almost manually more than 3 million square meters of streets, squares, embankments, put in order more than 12 thousand yards, cleaned 27 thousand sewer wells. With their heroic work, the residents of the city prevented outbreaks of epidemics that were ready to occur in the spring of 1942.There were no epidemics in besieged Leningrad. In the emergency conditions of wartime, deeply thought-out measures were taken to organize the joint work of sanitary and epidemiological services, both civil and military.Medical workers of the city made an invaluable contribution to the fight against the prevention of epidemics, and the measures to clean up and improve Leningrad also played a significant role. Today, the experience gained in the prevention and control of epidemics in besieged Leningrad has turned out to be in demand. The Government of the Russian Federation has been taking necessary preventive measures since the first days of the spread of the coronovirus pandemic