RUSSIA OVERTAKES ITALY AS CASES RISE

TALLY SURGES TO 221,344; MORE THAN HALF OF CASES, DEATHS IN MOSCOW

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin ended his national stay-at-home restrictions against the coronavirus after six weeks, while putting responsibility for easing the measures on regional leaders, even as the number of infections in Russia surged past most European countries.

“The non-working period for all of Russia and all economic sectors is coming to an end,” Putin said in an address to the nation on Monday. Still, he said, “The exit from restrictions will not be quick, it will take considerable time. Starting from May 12, it will be necessary to maintain both general sanitary requirements and additional preventive measures in the regions.”

Russia has among the highest number of infections in the world. It added a record 11,656 new cases for a total of 221,344, briefly surpassing Italy, France and the UK earlier on Monday.

Later, after Britain announced its latest numbers, Russia finished the day in fourth place behind the US, Spain and the UK in terms of number of infections officially reported.

Almost half of all cases are asymptomatic, according to the Russian government’s virus response centre. Russia is contending with the fallout of both coronavirus-related shutdowns and the epidemic’s impact on demand for oil, the country’s most important export.