Russia approaches 400,000 Covid-19 cases but infection rate starts to descend

Moscow, May 30 (efe-epa).- Russia is fast approaching 400,000 coronavirus cases with up to 9,000 new infections being identified each day.

Health authorities say the rate of infection in the country is starting to descend.

According to the latest figures from the specialist group set up to lead the campaign against Covid-19, there have been a total of 396,575 cases detected in 83 Russian regions.

Some 8,950 of those cases were detected in the last 24 hour period, of which 3,747 patients, some 41 percent, were asymptomatic.

A total of 167,469 people have recovered from Covid-19 according to Russian officials, equating to one in every three cases.

The number of active cases has stabilized since 25 May, when it reached a peak of 230,966.

Health officials said 181 people had died from Covid-19 in the last 24 hours. That toll hit a monthly high on Friday.

Anna Popova, chief health officer, had warned of a spike in fatalities once the country’s infection rate began its descent from a plateau of new cases. At least 4,555 have died from coronavirus in Russia.

The situation in Moscow, the epicenter of the epidemic in the county, is gradually improving.

Officials in the capital said they had detected 2,367 new cases and 78 deaths in the last 24 hours. Some 178,196 cases in Russia were registered in Moscow.

The transmission rate has dipped below R1 — meaning a person infects another person on average — to 0.95 on a national level and 0.80 in the capital.

Health officials believe regions with an R rating of less than one can begin the process of easing the nationwide lockdown given they demonstrate a sufficient hospital capacity.

Regions could then progress to a second and third stage of de-escalation should they register an infection rate of less than 0.8 and 0.5 respectively. EFE-EPA

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