Russia coronavirus cases shoot past 260,000 as Moscow begins free antibody tests
- Russia has the second highest number of infections in the world
- Many richer Russians caught the virus during their annual ski holiday at a French ski resort in March
Moscow, the epicentre of Russia’s outbreak, started mass antibody testing of residents on Friday to try to work out what portion of the population has already been infected and to identify infected people with no symptoms.
Sergei Sobyanin, Moscow’s mayor, has promised over 200,000 such tests a day by the end of May, and said the programme will help him decide how and when to ease lockdown measures which have forced many businesses to close.
Though Russia was quick to seal off much of its border with China to try to reduce the spread of the virus it was slower to close down European travel.
Many richer Russians caught the virus during their annual ski holiday at the French ski resort of Courchevel in March, six Russians familiar with the matter said, three of whom fell ill after their own trip there.