MOSCOW, May 4. /TASS/. Russia will partly maintain some of the restrictive measures taken to slow down the spread of the novel coronavirus until a vaccine for the new disease is found, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said in an interview with the Rossiya-24 TV channel.
"The restrictive measures must be lifted stage by stage as well, however, some of them will be maintained until medical prophylactic means are found," he said.
Murashko stressed that there is a risk of a second wave of infection if there is no herd immunity to the virus.
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.
According to the latest statistics, over 3,400,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 240,000 deaths have been reported. To date, a total of 134,687 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 16,639 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 1,280 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.