Russia sees new spike in coronavirus cases

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russia has seen an increasing number of the coronavirus cases over the last week, with 7,212 new infections reported on Friday -- the biggest daily number since June.

The total number of virus since the beginning of the pandemic in Russia surpassed 1.13 million, with active cases standing at 181,846, the country's emergency team said in a report.

Over the same period, a total of 934,146 patients recovered, while the virus claimed 20,056 lives.

The authorities refers the growing figures to "continuing development of the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic in Russia".

"The coronavirus pandemic has not gone anywhere, there is no second wave. Epidemic curve, the epidemic process is developing as a continuation of the first wave," said Alexandr Gorelov, deputy head of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor).

Rospotrebnadzor is deploying a network of mobile vaccination points to immunize people against seasonal flu and cold, which can cause complications in case of catching coronavirus.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin asked the elderly and people having chronical diseases to stay at home and refrain from personal contacts, visits and shopping.

He also asked companies to reassign employees to remote work and directed a third of the city administration staff to work from home.

Speaking with the governors of several Russian regions on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that the coronavirus cases were on the rise.

Putin expressed hope that due to the measures undertaken at the federal and regional levels, the situation will gradually improve but for that it is necessary to implement the steps and measures, worked out by the sanitary authorities.

On Sept. 9, Russia started the third phase of Sputnik V anti-coronavirus vaccine trials involving up to 40,000 people as well as post-clinical research.

Mass vaccination in Russia is expected to begin as soon as October, and at least 60% of the population must have immunity to stem the virus's spread.

So far, several Russian ministers, including the head of the defense service Sergey Shoygu, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, several lawmakers, and one of President Vladimir Putin's daughters have been given the vaccine.