Putin held a meeting on measures to fight the spread of the coronavirus in Russia
18:12, 24 March
Photo: kremlin.ru
The meeting was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, Healthcare Minister Mikhail Murashko and Head of the Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare (Rospotrebnadzor) Anna Popova.
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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: The reason for our meeting is obvious. Ms Golikova and I have discussed this matter, and now we will talk about it some more.
Moscow has been affected the most.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin: We already have some 500 coronavirus cases. Some of them have not been confirmed yet, we are working on it.
Rospotrebnadzor Head Anna Popova: We have officially confirmed 290 cases and are waiting for test results for another 150 people.
Vladimir Putin: Are all of them in Moscow?
Anna Popova: Yes.
Sergei Sobyanin: We believe that, realistically, between 80 and 90 percent of them will test positive. But the difference between 400 and 500 cases is not that big. The dynamic is high, the situation is becoming serious, especially since many people who have returned from abroad are staying at home and have not been tested. Those who have the opportunity to do so have moved to their dachas or are staying at home. They are feeling well, fortunately, so they should stay there. But many more people have fallen ill.
Aware of this dynamic, we have started taking additional measures, increasing hospital capacities and testing. We have opened nine polymerase chain reaction (PCR) labs. They tested 3,000 people yesterday and will do another 13,000 tests by the end of the week. Ms Popova is helping us with her labs as well. We are testing all the samples we receive, using also Chinese and Korean test kits. We have opened a special department at the Kommunarka hospital to check these tests to sort them out, because we are not sure of their quality even though these are certified tests. We will inspect them and choose the most effective ones. After that we will discuss the matter with Ms Popova to decide which tests should be manufactured for the purpose of health screening, possibly even informally.
