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Coronavirus pandemic

No second wave of coronavirus infection in Moscow - mayor

The number of new daily infections has dropped 10-fold from 6,500 to 650, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin Mikhail Tereshchenko/TASS

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin

© Mikhail Tereshchenko/TASS

MOSCOW, August 2. /TASS/. There is no second wave of the novel coronavirus infection in Moscow, and the number of new daily infections has dropped 10-fold from 6,500 to 650, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Sunday.

"The second wave is when people for the second time face the danger of being infected. Neither we nor the world have this. Why are we seeing such a rapid growth in a number of regions? That’s because they have not overcome even the first wave, the first process. They were either closed like Hong Kong and fully quarantined. Such cities as London, New York, Paris and Moscow have already passed this stage," Sobyanin said in an interview with Rossiya-1 TV channel.

According to the mayor, during the first wave of the coronavirus spread the Russian capital recorded some 6,500 new cases every day. "Today this is a completely different picture. Over the past month we saw that we are nearly in one ‘corridor’ - some 650 cases [of the coronavirus infection] and plus or minus 50," Sobyanin said.

Moscow introduced a state of high alert over the novel coronavirus pandemic starting from March 5 and imposed a lockdown starting on March 29. All stores, except for those selling essentials and goods for pets, were shut down. Theaters, restaurants, cafes, gyms, beauty salons and parks were closed. In addition, all entertainment events were prohibited. People were strongly advised to go into self-isolation. Restrictions began to be gradually rolled back in mid-May as the situation improved. On June 9, the lockdown measures and travel passes were lifted but precautionary measures remained in place such as wearing face masks and gloves in public places and observing social distancing.

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