If necessary, the Moscow authorities are ready to tighten the current regime of restrictions in the city, if the situation with the spread of a new type of coronavirus infection so requires. The mayor of the capital, Sergei Sobyanin, said this in the film "Dangerous Virus 4" on the channel "Russia 1".

This, in particular, is about a possible reduction in the issuance of digital passes. Sobyanin called this system a “finer tuning tool,” with which you can reduce the number of people on the streets.

“If we need to reduce the flow of people on the roads, in the subway, then we will simply reduce the volume of issuing digital passes, and tighten the control over issuing passes and trips in general. If we see any threat, then, of course, I will not doubt a minute, we will come up with a proposal to tighten these measures, ”the mayor explained.

At the same time, on the air of the Russia 24 channel, he noted that softening the restrictions is not ruled out if the situation stabilizes in the near future.

“If we see by mid-May, two weeks later, that the load is still decreasing and we have a margin of safety in order for people to provide high-quality medical care to combat COVID-19, then we can think of relaxation measures,” said the mayor.

Over the past day in Russia, 9623 new cases of COVID-19 infection were recorded. This is the highest daily incidence rate since the beginning of the epidemic in the country. Among new patients, 46.6% did not have clinical manifestations of the disease, according to the operational headquarters for countering the spread of coronavirus infection.

The day before this, the disease was diagnosed in 7933 Russians, another day before - in 7099 people. According to the latest data, in Russia the total number of cases of COVID-19 infection reached 124 054 in all regions of the country.

During the epidemic in Russia, 15 013 people (12.1%) recovered, 1793 of them over the last day. 1222 people (0.99%) died from complications arising from COVID-19 and concomitant diseases. 57 people died in 24 hours.

Moscow leads in the number of new cases of COVID-19. During the day in the capital found 5358 new cases. 3561 infections were confirmed the day before in the city, 3093 the day before. A total of 62 658 people were diagnosed in the capital since the beginning of the epidemic, 55 589 of them are currently ill.

An increase in the incidence rate at the Moscow operations headquarters was associated with an increase in the volume and speed of testing for coronavirus.

“The number of studies on coronavirus in Moscow has doubled, with the efforts of all laboratories conducting more than 40 thousand tests per day,” the headquarters said.

It is also noted that in the capital there are now 14 reference centers engaged in confirming positive results for coronavirus.

“The rate of confirmation of positive results has increased several times, which justified an increase in the growth of patients,” the report said.

Also on russian.rt.com RT map: distribution of COVID-19 cases by regions of Russia

Peak incidence and stabilization

The Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation stated: "At present, there is no reason to believe that the situation has stabilized and security rules can be neglected." It is noted that the virus continues to spread actively and a high probability of infection remains.

According to Vladimir Chulanov, Deputy Director of the Scientific and Research Center for Phthisiopulmonology and Infectious Diseases of the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, the increase in the number of new cases of the disease may be the result of a violation of the self-isolation regime.

“Currently, the main and most effective measure to prevent the further spread of a new coronavirus infection is strict adherence to a self-isolation regime,” the specialist said.

In turn, the head of the Ministry of Health, Mikhail Murashko, in an interview for the film "Dangerous Virus 4" recalled that after passing the peak of incidence, it is impossible to immediately cancel the universal self-isolation regime, since it will take time to stabilize the situation. According to the minister, it is necessary “to build an entire system that will again not allow to get a rise in the disease”.

Also, the head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova, speaking on the air of "Russia 1", spoke on the topic of transmission of the disease. She emphasized that coronavirus can spread both by airborne droplets and by contact, but it cannot be ruled out that it can enter the body with food and water.

“(The possibility of the spread of the virus. - RT ) with food or with water is a debatable issue. But at the same time, none of our colleagues undertakes to completely eliminate this path today, ”said Popova.

The head of Rospotrebnadzor also recalled that it was necessary to treat gadgets and work surfaces with a disinfector so that the virus could not enter the body through the hands. She clarified that, according to studies, the virus can persist on objects up to 72 hours.

“At home, you can get rid of the virus using something hot ... you can iron it - it's a long-known way to get rid of any virus,” Popova added.

European scenario

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin also expressed the opinion that the virus in Russia is spreading according to the European scenario, and not according to the Chinese version. The mayor said that over the past month and a half from abroad, more than a million people have returned to Russia. According to Sobyanin, of which about 120 thousand are Muscovites.

“Of this million, half traveled through Moscow and went further to the region. In my opinion, the Chinese version is no longer possible, we are already working on the European version, when there is a pandemic within the country and we just have to fight to smooth out the peaks, ”the mayor said.

Answering a question about the possible timing of the peak of incidence in Moscow, the mayor expressed the hope that this moment would not come at all, since such a scenario, he said, means infection of more than half of the city’s residents.

“When will we have this peak? God forbid that it never was at all ... For the peak to pass, it is necessary that 60% of the population become infected, for Moscow it is almost seven million people, why do we have to go through such peaks? Maybe it’s easier for us to withstand this pressure, wait for the vaccines to be produced, and simply avoid this peak and infect such a mass of people, ”Sobyanin added.