Russia sees record rise as virus cases surge past 100,000

MOSCOW: Coronavirus cases in Russia surged past 100,000 on Thursday as the country recorded its largest daily increase, after officials warned infections had not yet peaked and extended lockdown measures.

A spike of 7,099 confirmed infections in the last 24 hours brought Russia’s total to 106,498 cases and 1,073 deaths from the virus, the government’s coronavirus information site said in a daily update.

With the number of cases increasing by several thousand each day, Russia is now leading European countries in registering new infections.

President Vladimir Putin said the country’s coronavirus response had shown that "we are together, we are a united country".

"Battling the threat of the coronavirus is a real test of our humanity," he said in a teleconference with volunteers and charity workers from various regions.

Russia’s coronavirus death rate remains relatively low and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the country’s actions had helped it avoid the catastrophic "Italian scenario". Russia’s success was down to "tough self-isolation decisions" and government measures "which convinced people to stay at home," Peskov told the RTVI television channel.

He also said Russia had quickly and efficiently increased the number of available hospital beds.

The virus has spread to all 85 regions of the country, with Moscow the epicentre with around half the total cases. Russia recently surpassed Iran and China in the number of confirmed infections and is now eighth in the world in virus cases, according to an AFP tally.

The country has carried out nearly 3.5 million virus tests, health officials said, and is ranked 19th in the world for the number of coronavirus deaths.