All news

Russia likely to face minor outbreak of COVID-19 in September-October, says expert

To date, 800,849 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 588,774 patients having recovered from the disease

MOSCOW, July 24. /TASS/. A minor outbreak of the novel coronavirus might occur in September of October after Russians isolated at their dachas (a country house or cottage usually used in the summer as a second home) come back to cities and towns, Yevgeny Timakov, a pediatrician specializing in infectious diseases and vaccinology, said on Thursday.

"Despite the fact that all the people have been breaking the [compulsory] mask wearing requirements and that they have been gathering in shops contacting one another, we cannot see a spike in cases for the past quarantine periods. It means that at present the virus transmission rate is lowering, as there are much fewer susceptible people. Yes, we expect a minor outbreak when people come back from dachas. Those who self-isolate at dachas will return in September and October," he said.

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 15,666,800 people have been infected worldwide and more than 636,700 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 9,554,800 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

To date, 800,849 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 588,774 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 13,046 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.