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Coronavirus pandemic

27 Russian regions ready to ease coronavirus lockdowns, PM says

To date, a total of 290,678 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia

© Sergei Konkov/TASS

MOSCOW, May 18. /TASS/. Twenty-seven Russian regions are now ready for lifting some of the coronavirus lockdowns, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said on Monday.

"To date, judging by objective indices of day-by-day monitoring, a number of regions are ready to gradually ease the quarantine measures," he said at an online meeting of the presidium of the coronavirus response council. "In all, there are 27 such regions.

"It is becoming possible because the virus community spread indicator is below 1 and more than a half of specialized beds equipped for treatment of serious cases are vacant," he explained. "It is very important that the scope of testing for the coronavirus in these regions is stably wide, which means that the infection is detected swiftly."

Coronavirus testing

Russia is the world’s leader in terms of coronavirus testing and continues to extend the scope of testing, Mishustin said.

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Russia’s coronavirus growth rate hits record low of 3% over past 24 hours

"Russia holds leading positions in terms of tests done. And we continue to extend the scope of such testing across the entire country to spot the infection at its initial stages and prevent serious complications," he said at an online meeting of the presidium of the coronavirus response council.

To date, a total of 290,678 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 70,209 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 2,722 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.

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