COVID-19: Russia records another 9,000 new cases as lockdown eases

As the country begins to ease lockdown, Russia on Sunday reported 9,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day taking the number of infection cases in the country to over 467,000.

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Russia's coronavirus infection rate is the third highest in the world after the United States which has over 1.9 million cases and Brazil with over 670,840 cases.

As the virus spread in the country, Russia on Friday sealed its submarine-making city Severodvinsk with the area becoming a hotspot of COVID-19 infections with over 1,000 cases.

Russia had also seen a spurt in cases in eastern Siberia even as President Putin ordered field hospitals in Zabaikalyewhich has 1,321 confirmed cases.

Although infections in Russia are at a record highbut the death toll hasn't reached as high as other Western nations with the country recording over 5,500 fatalities.

Amid the infection rate, the World Health Organisation(WHO) had said last week that the number of coronavirus cases was slowly declining in Russia.

WHO Russia representative Melita Vujnovic had said: "We are seeing a good, albeit slow, decline" in the number of infections in Russia including the capital Moscow," while adding, "we are hoping that the epidemic will continue to decline further."

Last Wednesday, Russia had reported 8,536 new coronavirus cases and 178 deaths in the last 24 hours as Moscow which is widely known as the epicenter of the virus recording 1,842 new cases.

According to authorities, 195,957 people have recovered from the virus in Russia. The country recorded 5,000 total deaths last week even as as authorities eased the lockdown and prepared to kickstart the economy.