Plans on holding Victory Day parade in Moscow unchanged, Kremlin says
The situation is being monitored, according to the Kremlin spokesman
MOSCOW, April 1. /TASS/. No decisions have been made on changing the plans to hold the Victory Day parade in Moscow on May 9 over the coronavirus, but the situation is being monitored, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
"No other decisions have been made, the situation is being monitored," Peskov told reporters.
Earlier Moscow sent invitations to world leaders to visit the Russian capital and take part in the events dedicated to the 75th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945). Many of them have accepted the invitations. However, some media reports said festive events could be allegedly postponed, canceled or limited amid the coronavirus pandemic.
In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.
On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. To date, more than 850,000 people have been infected worldwide and over 42,000 deaths have been reported.
So far, a total of 2,777 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 190 patients having recovered from the illness. The country’s latest data indicates 24 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public informed about the coronavirus situation.