Russia Records Highest Weekly Spike In COVID-19 Cases, Moscow Passes Infection Peak

Illustration of COVID-19 in Moscow, Russia. (Wikimedia Commons/Mos.ru)

JAKARTA - The mayor of Moscow, Rusi Sergei Sobyanin announced that his city has passed the peak number of COVID-19 infection cases, starting a decline in cases while waiting for the situation to stabilize, in an interview with Rossiya-1 TV, Sunday 11 July local time.

"Moscow is certainly going through challenging times. Thank God we have overcome the peak number and now some stabilization is observed and even a slight decrease in the incidence rate," Sobyanin said, as quoted by TASS Sunday, July 11.

Moscow ranks first in Russia in terms of cases of COVID-19 infection. To date, a total of 1,423,828 cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in the city, including 5,694 over the past day. A total of 1,221,766 people were declared cured and 23,538 people died.

Meanwhile, Russia recorded its highest spike in COVID-19 deaths over the past week, with 5,077 deaths according to the anti-coronavirus crisis center data cited by TASS. The figure is Russia's all-time high since the start of the pandemic, which was from 4,643 weekly deaths recorded at the end of last week.

Russia's death rate is significantly higher than last year: for example, this week, the country recorded more deaths than in the whole of July 2020 (from July 1 to 31, the crisis center reported 4,643 deaths). Keep in mind that the crisis center data is incomplete and only takes into account cases where COVID-19 was the leading cause of death and was quickly confirmed.

The incidence of coronavirus in Russia continues to increase, but the pace is decreasing. From July 5 to 11, the country recorded 172,392 cases of COVID-19 compared to 159,650 in the previous seven days (an 8 percent increase compared to 19% a week ago).

This is partly due to the stable epidemiological situation in Moscow, where the number of cases is declining again. The crisis center recorded 41,463 coronavirus cases compared to 48,838 a week earlier (15 percent fewer).

The number of recoveries in Russia rose by 131,318, nearly 17 percent more than the same period earlier. Nevertheless, the number of so-called active cases continues to soar, according to the crisis center, about 440,112 people receiving treatment (a highest record since February 5).