Moscow Sees 90-Percent Plunge in New COVID-19 Cases

The number of new coronavirus infections in the Russian capital has taken a 90-percent dive since the peak of the pandemic, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Wednesday, TASS reports.

“If we take the period from the peak of the incidence, the number of newly-diagnosed COVID-19 cases in Moscow has seen a ten-fold decline. You remember, we had 6,500 [cases]. Today, we have about 650 cases, plus or minus 50,” he said at a meeting on the nationwide sanitary and epidemiological situation chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

According to the mayor, the situation has remained practically unchanged for about a month. “There are also other factors, such as hospital admissions. Our bed capacity today is less than the number of discharged patients. The situation has remained more or less the same for a considerable period of time. The number of patients in intensive care units, on ventilators, is also decreasing all the time,” Sobyanin highlighted.

“We have created a reserve fund of 7,000 beds in mobile hospitals, but they are no different from stationary hospitals. Plus, 6,000 beds are being used to the fullest extent. These are specialized hospitals, which work with COVID-19 patients,” the mayor said.

The coronavirus situation in Moscow, previously the hardest hit area in Russia, according to statistics, has improved substantially. A total of 239,986 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in the city, including 671 cases recorded in the past 24 hours. To date, 176,437 patients have recovered, and 4,434 people have died. A campaign for mass voluntary testing among the public for COVID-19 antibodies is underway in the capital.