MOSCOW, October 28. /TASS/. Russia’s coronavirus spread rate plunged to 1.02 on Wednesday, a record low since September 11, according to TASS estimates based on the anti-coronavirus crisis center’s data.
In Moscow, the COVID-19 spread rate dropped to 0.94, the lowest figure since August 26.
In ten regions with the biggest case tally the situation has relatively stabilized and in the majority of them the rate has been gradually declining. In two regions this rate does not exceed 1. Besides Moscow, where for the first time since October 15 less than 4,000 new cases were recorded, this is the Khanty Mansi Autonomous Region, where a 1 rate was registered.
In St. Petersburg the coronavirus spread rate hit a record low of 1.02 since September 25. On the contrary, in the Rostov Region, in southern Russia, the coronavirus spread rate exceeded 1 and reached 1.03 for the first time in the past five days. In the Moscow Region and the Nizhny Novgorod Region the rate plunged to 1.06. The figure stood at 1.08 in the Sverdlovsk Region, 1.09 in the Krasnoyarsk Region, 1.1 in the Voronezh Region and 1.13 in the Irkutsk Region.
High coronavirus spread rates indicate the growing number of COVID-19 cases in Russia in the past few weeks. Since early September, Russia has been registering over 5,000 new coronavirus infections daily. On October 26, Russia registered a record high of 17,347 new coronavirus cases.
The coronavirus spread rate shows the number of people one patient can infect before being isolated. Along with other criteria, it was used to define the regions’ readiness for a step-by-step removal of restrictions introduced this spring to combat the epidemic. Now this rate is used to adopt decisions on resuming regular passenger service with foreign countries.
In accordance with the Federal Service for Surveillance of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing’s recommendations, the borders with a country may be opened if the coronavirus spread rate does not exceed 1 for a week.
In late December 2019, Chinese officials informed 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 44.2 mln people have been infected worldwide and more than 1.1 mln deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 32.4 mln individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.