MOSCOW, October 9. /TASS/. An increase in the number of coronavirus cases in Russia may require additional decisions by the government’s crisis center and regional authorities, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday. He did not specify though what steps could be taken.
"If the situation continues to deteriorate and the number of infected people continues to grow, of course, that will be an issue for consideration by the government’s crisis center and at the regional level. This will require some actions, some decisions, but which ones, I cannot say," he noted.
The Kremlin spokesman stressed that the number of confirmed daily coronavirus cases was growing. "Evidently, many people do not yet think it is necessary to take care of their own health. This is an obvious fact," he admitted.
At the same time, "there can be no exact parameters" to determine the moment when the authorities need to make a decision on additional measures, Peskov noted. "There is a general picture of hospital occupancy rate in regions, which is, so to say, a margin of safety in terms of responding to growing numbers. Depending on that, regions will make decisions, and the federal crisis center will react depending on that," he added.
To date, 1,272,238 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 1,009,421 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 22,257 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.