Deputy PM: Coronavirus infections in Russia jump by 18.8% on Wed

MOSCOW, Apr 1 (PRIME) -- The number of people infected with the coronavirus jumped by 18.8% on Wednesday in Russia to 2,777 on Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said at an online government conference chaired by President Vladimir Putin.

“As of today, cases of new coronavirus infection were registered in 75 regions, there was a total of 2,777 cases, and the increase over the past day amounted to 440 cases, meaning that the number of people diagnosed with the new coronavirus infection grew by 18.8% over the past day. Unfortunately, 24 people died as of today, and 190 people recovered,” she said as broadcast by Rossiya 24 television channel.

Russia will continue raising the amount of coronavirus tests, and no one should relax just because no one has been infected in 10 regions of the country yet, she said.

“The amount of tests has exceeded 460,000 as of yesterday, and we are among the three leading states by the amount of tested people. All laboratories of the Federal Service for Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare Oversight are involved in the process in all regions, and the laboratories of 47 regions are also involved as well as two large private laboratories,” Golikova said.

When thinking about prolongation of the self-isolation regime, the government should balance between restrictions and economic development of the regions, she said.

Russia will hold pre-clinical trials of the coronavirus vaccine, developed by the human welfare watchdog’s unit Vektor, before June 22. Vektor has also developed a system for discovery of the coronavirus antibodies in the blood of people who recovered from the disease. The company will use the antibodies to study the herd immunity and efficiency of vaccines, she said.

The medical authorities are also studying eight medicines registered in Russia and that may possibly help in coronavirus treatment. They are also testing 22 new medicines. Reliable data about the possibility of using the medicines will be received on April 10, she said.

She also said that the situation with tracking of the Russians who came back from foreign countries is very difficult, but all Russian authorities are working in unison in order to cope with that. Taking into account a large amount of people that want to get back to Russia, the government will limit the number of returning people to 500 people per day for the Moscow airport hub and at 200 people for the airports in other Russian cities, she said.

“In accordance with the decision of the chief sanitary officer, all people who fly to the Russian Federation are placed into the observation centers in case they came to the cities where they have no permanent residence registration,” she said/ “The Russian Federation subjects have organized the work.”

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