Russia Adds More Than 10,000 New COVID-19 Cases in 24 Hours

Russia logged an additional 10,633 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday, bringing that nation’s total to 134,687, of which authorities say nearly half are asymptomatic. Russia has also reported 1,280 deaths since the pandemic started. The record number of new cases marks four consecutive days of staggering counts for the country. On Saturday, Harbin City, China, on the border with Russia, issued an emergency measure to close all dine-in restaurants to stop the transmission into the country, which has made strides in overcoming the pandemic that started there. Meanwhile, Russian president Vladimir Putin said his country’s lockdown would remain in effect until at least May 11. “The daily increase in cases has relatively stabilized but this mustn’t calm us down, the situation is still very serious,” Putin said. “The peak is not behind us, we are about to face a new and grueling phase of the pandemic… the deadly threat of the virus remains.”