A health worker takes a sample from a man at a drive-in Covid-19 testing facility in Moscow. Photo: AFP
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https://scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3083903/coronavirus-russias-vladimir-putin-ends-nationwide-quarantine World
Coronavirus: Russia’s Vladimir Putin ends nationwide quarantine despite rising infections
- Russia’s coronavirus caseload reached 221,000 on Monday according to official data, making it the world's fourth-largest nationwide outbreak
- Regional officials have been tasked with deciding whether to prolong quarantine measures at the local level
Moscow is the epicentre of Russia’s Covid-19 outbreak. Photo: AFP
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday said that a nationwide instruction to stay at home rather than go to work would cease to apply the following day, despite the country's coronavirus caseload continuing to rise.
"As of tomorrow, May 12, the nationwide period of non-working days has been completed. However, the battle against this epidemic has not yet finished," Putin said in a nationally televised speech.
Regional officials have been tasked with deciding whether to prolong quarantine measures at the local level.
The capital, Moscow, and its surrounding region, where most cases have been recorded, have lockdown quarantine measures in place for the rest of this month.
Russia’s coronavirus caseload reached 221,000 on Monday according to official data, making it the world's fourth-largest nationwide outbreak, just behind Britain.
The highest-known numbers of cases are in the United States and Spain, according to comparative data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
Russia's identified caseload of the novel coronavirus has sharply risen over the past month-and-a-half, with daily additions of more than 10,000 over the past week.
More than 2,000 people have died in Russia from causes directly linked to the disease, according to a federal monitoring service that publishes the daily statistics.
A woman wears a protective face mask in downtown Moscow. Photo: EPA-EFE
Lockdown quarantine measures have been imposed by regional officials throughout most of the country for more than a month in an effort to curb the infection rate.
About half of Russia's coronavirus caseload has been detected in the largest city and capital, Moscow, with about 115,000 reported as of Monday.
Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said last week that the actual number of cases in the city is probably about three times higher than reported.
Russia, whose population of about 145 million is the largest of any European country, says it has conducted more than 5 million tests.
Spain, which has the largest coronavirus caseload on the continent, claims to have conducted almost 2.5 million tests for the virus or related antibodies.
Russia's economy has struggled to deal with the pandemic, with economic activity having declined by one-third since lockdown measures were imposed, according to government statistics from last week.
A drop in prices for oil, a key Russian export, due to a slowdown in global trade because of the pandemic has also taken a toll.
Though it has regained some value in recent weeks Russia's currency, the rouble, is about 10 per cent weaker versus the US dollar than it was at the onset of the crisis in early March.
On Monday, it was trading at about 73 roubles per dollar.