More than a half of Russia’s 85 regions can begin to lift coronavirus lockdowns within days, chief of Russia’s sanitary watchdog Anna Popova said.
"Forty-four regions - more than a half - have grounds to begin phase one [of lifting the lockdowns] today or tomorrow," she said in an interview with the Voskresny Vecher with Vladimir Solovyov program on the Rossiya-1 television channel.
According to Popova, the coronavirus situation in the country has stabilized. Thus, on May 11, when the nationwide days off were over, only nine Russian regions could begin to lift the lockdowns, TASS reported.
"The forecast and prospects of today’s changes are quite stable and favorable. This is because when the days off were over on May 11 we introduced new criteria for beginning phase one. Back then, the propagation ratio, i.e. the number of people one patient can infect before being isolated, was less than one or equal to one only in nine regions. Today, it is less than one in 27 regions and is equal to one in 17 more regions," she said.
