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Coronavirus pandemic

Russia’s COVID-19 spread rate still surpasses 1

This figure is used to determine, whether the regions are ready to lift the restrictive measures introduced last spring to combat the pandemic

MOSCOW, July 19. /TASS/. Russia’s COVID-19 spread rate remained unchanged at 1.02, while in Moscow, the figure dropped to 0.93, according to TASS estimates based on the anti-coronavirus crisis center’s data.

The spread rate stands at below 1 only in two out of ten Russian regions with the highest COVID-19 incidence - Moscow and the country’s second largest city St. Petersburg (0.99).

In the Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod Regions, the spread rate hit 1.01, in the Rostov and Sverdlovsk Regions, the figure reached 1.04, in the Irkutsk and Voronezh Regions - 1.08. In the Samara Region, the coronavirus spread rate surged to 1.1, while in the Krasnoyarsk Region, on the contrary, it decreased to 1.11.

The coronavirus spread rate indicates the average number of people that one person can infect before isolation. Along with other criteria, this figure is used to determine, whether the regions are ready to lift the restrictive measures introduced last spring to combat the pandemic. Currently, the spread rate is applied in terms of the decisions on the resumption of regular international passenger traffic. According to Russia’s sanitary watchdog’s recommendations, the country can open the borders for a particular state if the COVID-19 spread rate there does not exceed 1 within a week.

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