Russia saw a one-day record rise in reported coronavirus cases Thursday — and the country now has the world’s second-fastest rate of new infections behind the United States, according to new reports.
Russia confirmed 11,231 new coronavirus infections Thursday, bringing the country’s official tally to 177,160 cases, according to the Moscow Times.
In terms of infections, Russia is now the fifth-most-affected country, surpassing Germany and France on Thursday, the outlet reported.
Those milestones come just a day after President Vladimir Putin asked regional leaders to prepare plans for a gradual easing of the lockdown beginning on May 12, NBC News reported.
But he urged caution, warning governors, “The price of even the smallest mistake is the safety, lives and health of our people,” according to the Times.
Since Sunday, Russia has seen a daily increase of more than 10,000 infections — a rise that officials attribute to an increase in mass testing, and the detection of asymptomatic cases that are not always counted in other countries, the outlet reported.
More than 4.8 million coronavirus tests have been conducted in the country, health officials said Thursday.
Coronavirus cases have been reported in all of Russia’s 85 regions, according to the Times. Moscow is the epicenter, with 92,676 infections.
But the mayor of the capital city said 300,000 people have likely been infected there, according to NBC News.
Meanwhile, a total of 88 people have died of the virus in Russia over the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll to 1,625 — still low compared to other European countries heavily hit by the pandemic, according to the Times.
Official figures released Wednesday showed the country’s death rate at just 0.9 percent, compared with Germany at 4.2 percent, the outlet reported.
Moscow says a series of measures taken early in the outbreak have kept the mortality rate low — including closing the country’s borders and ordering the elderly and those at risk to self-isolate.
But others say there may be issues with the way the death toll is calculated.
Nearly 3.8 million people have been infected with the coronavirus worldwide.