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Coronavirus pandemic

Majority of Russians support tough restrictive measures against COVID-19 — poll

Nearly half of those surveyed are afraid of losing their job and source of income to the same extent as of someone in their family becoming infected

© Peter Kovalev/TASS

MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/. The majority of Russians (60%) support the tough restrictive measures introduced by the Russian government to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus, the Russian Public Opinion Research Center informs in a poll published on Tuesday.

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Only one third of Russians observe one-meter social distancing — poll

According to the poll, a quarter of those polled (25%) support mild measures that alleviate the negative effect on the economy, but prolong the epidemic and increase the death toll. This figure is especially high among those aged 18-24 (34%). Meanwhile, 70% of respondents (mostly those over 60) stand for tough restrictive measures. At the same time, 16% of Russians could not provide a concrete response to the question on the restrictive measures.

When asked about the fears related to the spread of the novel coronavirus, nearly half of those surveyed (48%) said they are afraid of losing their job and source of income to the same extent as of someone in their family becoming infected; 33% said they are more worried about their family members becoming ill: among them, 41% of Russians aged 18-24 and 44% of those over 60. Concurrently, 16% of those polled said they are most afraid of losing their job. This opinion was mostly expressed by Russians aged 25-34 (22%).

Half of respondents (50%) think that the restrictive measures in their region (self-isolation, travel restrictions, closed shopping centers and cinemas) will be lifted in May. A quarter of Russians (25%) think that some of the measures will be lifted in June.

The poll was held by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center on April 23 among 1,600 Russian nationals over 18 years of age via a phone interview. The margin of error does not surpass 1.7% with the probability of 95%.

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Russia surpasses Iran’s number of coronavirus cases

In late December 2019, Chinese officials 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. According to the latest statistics, over 3,000,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 211,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 923,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

To date, a total of 93,558 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 8,456 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 867 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.

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Russia says its FPV drones disrupted Ukrainian troops rotation in Sumy Region

The ministry provided live-recording footage showing direct hits on Ukrainian military vehicles

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Trump announces appointment of senior White House officials

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Russian diplomat hails Odessa woman as defender of truth after flag protest

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Erdogan praises Russia, China for backing arms embargo on Israel

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Trump plans to appoint special envoy on Ukraine to hold peace talks with Russia — TV

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Russian frigate carrying hypersonic weapons embarks on first deployment in distant waters

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Russia elected to UN Committee for Program and Coordination

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Trump does not rule out he may run in next US presidential election

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Explosion of Kurakhovo reservoir dam disrupts water supply

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Kalashnikov holding starts supplies of civilian drones

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Russia to ensure parity in response to US missile defense system in Poland — Kremlin

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Ukraine's Kurakhovo Reservoir dam blast to help, not hurt Russian troops — expert

At least ten Ukrainian troops were killed

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Russia to hold Astana-format summit in 2025 — Russian diplomat

Alexander Lavrentyev noted that despite the fact that the exact date of the summit has not yet been agreed upon, meetings in the Astana format are held regularly at other levels

DPR head Pushilin visits Ugledar, says town badly destroyed

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Russian Su-34 bomber strikes Ukrainian troops in borderline Kursk area

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Trump 'demonstrates affinity' for Russian President Vladimir Putin — newspaper

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Lukashenko tells Putin situation is "starting to get tense with Wagner"

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Kiev's Western allies begin to acknowledge need for territorial concessions — report

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US missile defense base in Poland to defend US, Europe alike — Polish foreign minister

Radoslaw Sikorski also expressed hope that the base will never go into action

West attempted to prevent Russia-Africa ministerial meeting, diplomat says

African countries realized that "this pressure contradicts their own national interests", Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said

Medvedev characterizes Great Britain as eternal adversary of Russia

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Chancellor Scholz opposes assistance to Ukraine at expense of Germany’s future

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Russian forces gain foothold near Kupyansk as Kiev begins to retreat

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Not all Republicans support Trump in refusing further military aid to Kiev — newspaper

According to the news outlet, Congressman Mike Waltz, who is being considered by Trump for the post of national security adviser, is in favor of lifting restrictions on the use of Western long-range missiles to attack Russia

Next-gen Su-57 shows strength of Russia’s defense sector — diplomat

Maria Zakharova pointed out that military experts had praised the "unmatched capabilities" the plane displayed at the Airshow China in Zhuhai

Lebanon deal won't happen unless Israel given right to eradicate Hezbollah — Katz

Israel Katz pointed out that the goals of the war in the north are to disarm Hezbollah, to push its forces past the Litani River deep within Lebanese territory, and to make it possible for the residents of Israel’s north to come back to their homes

Bridges across Orontes damaged after Israel’s attack on Syria

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Attempts being made to drag Syria into armed confrontation in Middle East — diplomat

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Baltic Sea will never turn into 'NATO lake' — Russian MFA

Maria Zakharova emphasized that the Baltic Sea "will always be a common space for all of the region’s countries without exception"

Iraqi Shiites say they attacked ‘vital targets’ in Israel

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Musk doubles down on his opinion about 'endless war' in Ukraine

Earlier, the entrepreneur opined that the bloodshed in Ukraine would end soon

Russia’s Vityaz, Viking air defense systems attract major attention at Airshow China

Russian surface-to-air missile systems have demonstrated their value in the special military operation in Ukraine, Vyacheslav Dzirkaln noted

Russian citizenship approvals down 44% since January — ministry

According to Irina Volk, police are also clamping down on groups and individuals that help bring people into the country illegally, leading to a 2.5-fold increase in the detection and preliminary investigation of such crimes

Russia keeps building defense capacity despite conflict in Ukraine — Polish general

According to Wieslaw Kukula, if the conflict in Ukraine ends soon, Russia will be able to build up its defense capacity to the point that it could take on all of NATO

Ukraine moves medics, non-combat personnel to infantry to counter Russian advance

According to a Ukrainian army spokesperson, more medical personnel is being sent to the frontline, although pilots and military engineers "remain in their specialized positions"

FACTBOX: What we know about night-time drone attacks on Russian regions

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US views Russia as present-day threat, Trump may prioritize containing China — Lavrov

The Russian foreign minister stressed that reputation matters the most to the United States which does not care about the real fates of peoples, in particular the Ukrainian one

West to face 'devastating' response if it allows Kiev to strike deep into Russia — MFA

According to Maria Zakharova, Ukrainian social media accounts are meanwhile speculating that the Zelensky regime plans to present the received Western missiles as Ukrainian, changing the labels to use the weapons to attack Russia

Too early to talk about meeting between Assad, Erdogan — Russian diplomat

"Certain communication is maintained between the defense ministers, in the four-lateral format," Alexander Lavrentyev said

US shells for handful of Kiev’s Pion howitzers no game-changer — expert

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Russian troops liberate Rovnopol community in Donbass region over past day

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According to the Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman, European leaders are experiencing "autumn blues" after Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election

Russia set to deepen cooperation with China in law enforcement — top security official

Russia is seeking to consolidate efforts toward fighting extremism, terrorism and transnational crime both bilaterally and multilaterally, Sergey Shoigu specified

Lavrov likens proposals to freeze Ukraine crisis to worse version of Minsk agreements

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Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev did not rule out the possibility that the incident was the result of sabotage

Russia has written off $20 bln worth of African debts — MFA

Mikhail Bogdanov added that it allows using those debts "to implement socio-economic projects directly in the country"

Russia keeps positive dynamics of agricultural production — ministry

The production index of foodstuffs was 104.2% in January - September against the like period in 2023 and the index for beverages was 109.8%

US plans to remove 'arrogant' Zelensky and stage 2025 elections in Ukraine — SVR

"At the initial stage, it is planned to encourage entities within the Ukrainian civil society under their control, through US 'democratization' foundations and think tanks, to come up with a corresponding initiative," the statement reads