Moscow: The Coronavirus outbreak in Russia continues its rapid growth, with the government reporting over 9,000 new confirmed cases on Friday but the Kremlin saying a second lockdown is not being discussed.
The 9,412 new cases reported on Friday bring the country's total to over 1.19 million and mark the highest surge since late May. Russia currently has the fourth largest caseload in the world and has so far reported over 21,000 deaths.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday another lockdown is currently not being discussed in the government.
At the same time in Moscow, which has been reporting over 2,000 new cases a day since Monday, officials have recommended the elderly self-isolate at home and have extended upcoming school holidays by a week. On Thursday, Moscow's mayor also ordered employers to have 30 per cent of their staff work from home. I hope that this measure will be enough to curb the rise of infections, and we won't have to make more difficult decisions, Sergei Sobyanin wrote in his blog.
Meanwhile, British government scientists said on Friday it was still likely that a resurgence in the COVID-19 epidemic was spreading exponentially despite survey data that suggested a small levelling off in a recent sharp rise of cases.
The Office for National Statistics had said there was some evidence that the steep increases in new COVID-19 cases, seen in recent weeks in England, was slowing down.
But government scientists urged caution as they published a reproduction "R" number that had risen slightly to 1.3-1.6 from 1.2-1.5, meaning that on average, every 10 people infected will infect between 13 and 16 other people.
An R number above 1 indicates the epidemic is growing exponentially. "While there are some early indications suggesting that the growth of the epidemic might be slowing, SAGE (Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies) urges caution and believes it is too early to draw firm conclusions," the Government Office for Science said.