Number of coronavirus cases in Russia nears 300,000

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russia came close to 300,000 coronavirus cases on Tuesday as over 9,200 new infections were reported over the past 24 hours.

The country registered 9,263 more cases in the past day, taking the country's tally to 299,941.

The death toll rose to 2,837, including 115 fatalities recorded since yesterday, the emergency task force said in a daily report.

Meanwhile, recoveries rose by 5,921 over the last 24 hours to reach 76,130, it added.

On Monday, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin -- who takes part in the work of the government from the hospital where he is under treatment for coronavirus -- announced that although the situation with the virus's spread in Russia remains "quite challenging", the authorities managed to halt the growth in the incidence of the disease.

He added that 27 of 85 Russian regions, where the morbidity per 100,000 of population is below one point, can gradually lift quarantine restrictions.

But he also stressed that those above the age of 65 must stay in self-isolation at least till the end of May in all regions.

Russia became a leader in testing for virus, over 300,000 tests are carried out daily, and in total more than 7.3 million tests were conducted, detecting 267,000 people with the suspected virus, Mishustin added.

In a separate statement, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova reported the growth of infections in Russia over the past weeks dropped 23.4% nationwide and 47.5% in Moscow, the worst-hit area of the country.

COVID-19's rate of spread on average in the country equals 0.9, but in 43 regions the figure is still higher.

The pandemic has claimed over 318,000 lives in 188 countries and regions since originating in China last December.

The US, Europe, and Russia are currently the world’s worst-hit regions.

More than 4.8 million cases have been reported worldwide and over 1.78 million people have recovered to date, according to figures compiled by the US’ Johns Hopkins University.