Russia confirmed a record daily rise in the number of coronavirus or COVID-19 cases on Friday, which comes a day after the Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin made an announcement that he has tested for the novel virus and was temporarily stepping done for recovery.
The tally of the nation took a rise by 7,933 cases that now stood at 114,431, the coronavirus crisis response centre of Russia stated. It further added that 96 people got diagnosed with the disease had died in the last 24 hours, as a result raising the overall death count to 1,169.
Russia's Coronavirus crisis
Mishustin, the prime minister, told President Vladimir Putin on Thursday that he had been diagnosed with the virus and would self-isolate. First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov will serve as acting prime minister in his absence. Mishustin, who had been one of the main coordinators of Russia's response to the new coronavirus, was the first high-ranking Russian official to publicly say they have the virus.
Russia's outbreak got off to a slower start than many other countries. But cases began to sharply rise last month, and on Thursday surged past the 100,000 mark. Although Russia is rising up the table of nations with the highest number of confirmed cases, it has so far recorded far fewer deaths than many of the hardest-hit countries.
Putin has warned the peak of the outbreak has yet to come, and the authorities have said there could be a new spike in cases if the population flouts lockdown measures during long public holidays in early May. The world's largest country by territory, Russia has been on lockdown since Putin announced the closure of most public spaces in late March to limit the scope for the virus to spread. Putin and the cabinet have been holding remote meetings to avoid contact.
(With agency inputs)
