MOSCOW, June 16. /TASS/. The Kremlin is confident that all coronavirus safety measures will be followed during the constitutional amendments vote, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.
"The Central Election Commission is working in close cooperation with Anna Popova’s service [the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing — TASS], and all steps are being approved by it," he said.
"Of course, our priority is the health and safety of people: both those who come to vote and those who organize the vote. So there is no doubt that all the necessary measures will be taken, we have no reason to doubt it," Peskov added.
Earlier, the Kommersant daily informed that the Russian Central Election Commission had decided to abandon the idea of testing all members of election commissions for COVID-19 during the constitutional amendments vote on July 1. According to the newspaper, tests will be held if the epidemiological situation in the region calls for it.
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 8,130,600 people have been infected worldwide and more than 439,400 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 4,244,800 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.
To date, 545,458 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 294,306 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 7,284 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.