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Coronavirus pandemic

Russia’s coronavirus spread rate drops to lowest level since May 8

The coronavirus spread rate continues to exceed 1 in six out of ten Russian regions with the largest number of COVID-19 infections

© Valentin Yegorshin/TASS

MOSCOW, May 21. /TASS/. Russia’s coronavirus spread rate declined to 0.95 in the past 24 hours, registering the lowest level since May 8, according to TASS estimates based on the anti-coronavirus crisis center’s latest data released on Friday.

The coronavirus spread rate continues to exceed 1 in six out of ten Russian regions with the largest number of COVID-19 infections. This rate equaled 1.16 in the Samara Region, 1.08 in the Voronezh Region, 1.07 in the Moscow Region, 1.06 in the Nizhny Novgorod and Sverdlovsk Regions and 1.05 in St. Petersburg, the estimates show.

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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 last spring to combat the pandemic. Now this rate is used to adopt decisions on resuming regular passenger service with foreign countries.

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