BELGRADE/BERGAMO (Italy) (Pakistan Point news / Sputnik - 07th May, 2020) Russian military specialists, working in cooperation with their Serbian and Italian counterparts, have participated in the disinfection of a further five medical institutions in the Italian region of Lombardy and 21 health care establishments in Serbia, the Russian Ministry of Defense said on Thursday.
"Russian and Italian troops disinfected five medical institutions in the towns of Sarezzo Concescio, Villa Carcina, and Nuove in the Brescia province," the ministry said.
The military personnel were greeted by members of the public and staff of the institutions with applause and banners expressing their gratitude.
Since the start of their deployment in Italy during the COVID-19 pandemic, Russian military experts have sanitized retirement homes in more than 93 settlements in the region of Lombardy. In total, 119 separate buildings, with an area of more than 12.9 million square feet have been disinfected.
Russian military personnel are also currently deployed in Serbia, helping with disinfection efforts. The Ministry of Defense on Thursday announced that Russian and Serbian specialists had sanitized a psychiatric center in the town of Kovin and 20 other medical facilities.
"Specialists of the Ministry of Defense's detachment of nuclear, biological, and chemical protection units, currently providing help to Serbia during efforts to combat the coronavirus disease, carried out the preventative disinfection of a psychiatric center located in the town of Kovin," the ministry said.
In addition, 20 other medical facilities in Serbia were sanitized by Russian troops working in conjunction with the Serbian armed forces. These facilities are located in the towns of Novi sad, Vrsac, Pancevo, and Bela Crkva.
As of Wednesday, the Serbian Ministry of Health has confirmed 9,791 cases of COVID-19 since the start of the outbreak. The case total rose by 114 over the preceding 24 hours, down from the 120 new positive tests announced on Tuesday. Serbia's parliament lifted a state of emergency, imposed as the disease began to spread in the country, late on Wednesday.
In Italy, the number of active cases continues to decline as, on Wednesday, 1,444 new positive tests were announced compared to the 8,014 people who were discharged. The cumulative number of cases in the country has reached 214,457.�
