MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th May, 2020) A half of Russia's 85 regions could soon be cleared to ease coronavirus restrictions, the head of the consumer safety watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said Sunday.
"Forty-four Federal subjects... meet the criteria for entering phase one... Our scientists say we will be ready to move to the next stage in two weeks," Anna Popova told Rossiya 1 channel.
She said Russia appeared to have flattened the curve and the outlook was "quite stable and favorable." The reproduction number � the average number of people each infected passes the virus to � is below 1 in 25 regions and equals 1 in 17 others.
Russia has avoided the worst-case scenario in which the virus could overload the national health system, the official said, adding the daily infection rate was slowing down. Russia recorded 8,599 new coronavirus cases in the past day, bringing the total to 344,481.
