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Spread of COVID-19 cannot be fully stopped now, Russia’s chief sanitary doctor says

There are still risks that new epicenters of contamination will emerge, Anna Popova said

Russia’s chief sanitary doctor Anna Popova Mikhail Pochuev/ТASS

Russia’s chief sanitary doctor Anna Popova

© Mikhail Pochuev/ТASS

MOSCOW, May 4. /TASS/. It’s impossible to say now that COVID-19 will fully stop spreading regardless of the measures taken as there are still risks that new epicenters of contamination will emerge, Russia’s chief sanitary doctor Anna Popova said on Monday.

"Today it’s impossible to completely stop the circulation of the virus, no matter how closed the country is. Anyway, there is some kind of communication, and there are risks of renewal even if there are no viruses left in the country," Popova said in an interview with Pavel Zarubin on Russia-24 TV channel on Monday.

The head of Russia’s Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing noted that the restrictions will remain in place in Russia until there is a vaccine or treatment for the coronavirus. "We learn to live in a new way, we learn to live in the environment where there is a virus. By developing certain algorithms, we say that yes, we are removing restrictions here, but at the same time, older people remain at home anyway, people with chronic pathology will still [stay at home]," Popova said.

"The main thing today, what is very important, is that these two weeks and later when restrictions will be lifted after a certain time anyway, people will have to observe all the necessary rules to make this regime milder and milder," she said.

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.

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