Daily US Times: When Europe is healing from the coronavirus, the scenario in Russia is quite opposite, where 10,633 new coronavirus cases has reported on Sunday, its fourth record single-day increase in a row.
The situation is becoming a major headache for President Vladimir Putin.
The country’s total number of cases is now 134,687, the seventh-highest number in the world, in a dramatic turnaround from the situation back in March.
Russia has reported 1,280 deaths so far. The country’s coronavirus response headquarters said in a statement that around 50% of the cases were asymptomatic. Ca[ital city of Moscow became the country’s worst-hit city, accounts for more than half of total cases.
Russia extended its isolation period last week through May 11.
Mr Putin said: “The daily increase in cases has relatively stabilized but this mustn’t calm us down, the situation is still very serious.”
“The peak is not behind us, we are about to face a new and grueling phase of the pandemic… the deadly threat of the virus remains,” he said.
Anger is rising among the country’s health workers after many doctors falling sick and two dozen hospitals had to shut down for quarantines. Non-governmental organizations and independent media have reported anonymous pleas from outraged medical workers who said they had been ordered to the frontlines without adequate protection, and that bureaucratic foot-dragging was costing lives.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin appeared on state television on Thursday, informing Putin by video conference that he’d tested positive for the virus.
According to China’s state-run CCTV, a Chinese city on the border with Russia issued an emergency epidemic prevention notice on Saturday, closing all dine-in restaurants “until further notice”.
Chinese health authorities recently traced dozens of cases to a single flight that arrived in Shanghai from Moscow on April 10. A wave of cases in the city of Suifenhe, on the border with Russia’s Far East, were attributed in large part to Chinese nationals returning from Russia.
The Russian Defense Ministry reported an outbreak among its personnel, civilian employees and cadets. Reports have emerged of cases at military academies across the country, including among troops who took part in the Moscow rehearsals for the May 9 Victory Day parade.
Things were a different back in March, when President Putin radiated confidence about his government’s response to a growing global crisis, reassuring his citizens that the situation was “under control” thanks to early intervention measures.
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