MOSCOW, May 12, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Russia has the world’s second-highest
number of coronavirus infections after reporting another 10,899 new cases on
Tuesday, according to an AFP tally.
The new cases brought Russia’s total to 232,243, surpassing the number of
infections in Britain and Spain and now behind only the United States which
has reported more than 1.3 million, according to the tally compiled from
official sources.
Russia has been reporting more than 10,000 new cases per day for over a
week.
Officials say the high number of cases reflects a huge testing campaign,
with some 5.8 million tests carried out so far.
More than half of the cases have been reported in Moscow and the
surrounding region.
With only 2,116 virus deaths reported to date, Russia’s mortality rate has
been much lower in comparison with other countries with similar infection
rates.
Authorities say this is because Russia was able to learn lessons from the
experiences of western Europe, moving quickly to isolate travellers and
people at risk, convert hospitals to treating virus patients and to test and
quarantine those infected.
But critics have cast doubt on the numbers, accusing officials of under-
counting by blaming virus-related deaths on other causes.