Russia comes out of pandemic with minimal loss: Putin

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Russia is coming out of the coronavirus pandemic "with minimal losses".

At the same time, a lot of problems related to the pandemic remain on the agenda, Putin said at a video-conference with the country's government members.

"The most important thing is that this situation [of pandemic] united us all, this is a fact, and it allowed us to get out of this situation with minimal losses," he said.

He recalled there are some regions where the daily growth in COVID-19 cases is still high.

"We are now talking about positive trends and positive examples. But we must not forget there are still enough problems. And not everything and not everywhere is as good as we would like. People sometimes face problems that they can't solve quickly and effectively," he added.

As of today, a total of 569,063 infections, with a death toll of 7,841 and 324,406 recoveries were registered in Russia.

Russia's northern and the least populated Nenets Autonomous Okrug became the first region in the country where no cases were registered for two days in a row.

Since originating in China last December, the pandemic has claimed over 454,500 lives in 188 countries and regions. The US, Brazil, and Russia are currently the world’s worst-hit countries.

More than 8.51 million cases have been reported worldwide, while over 4.18 million patients have recovered so far, according to figures compiled by the US' Johns Hopkins University.