Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees on awarding employees of Russian medical and scientific institutions with Pirogov’s orders and Luka Krymsky’s medals for his contribution to the fight against coronavirus. A complete list of the winners is published on the Kremlin website.

It is noted that the awards were awarded for "a great contribution to the fight against coronavirus infection, dedication and professionalism shown in the performance of professional duty."

The awards for the fight against COVID-19, in particular, were received by the management and employees of the Vector Research Center for Virology and Biotechnology and the Microbe Research Institute.

In addition, the head of state awarded the title of Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation to five doctors, including Denis Protsenko, head doctor of the Moscow hospital in Kommunarka.

The decree specifies that "the title of Hero of Labor of the Russian Federation is awarded for special labor merits, dedication and high professionalism shown in the fight against coronavirus infection COVID-19." 

The title was also given to Marina Bakholdina, head doctor of the St. Petersburg City Pokrovskaya Hospital, Yulia Garevskaya, head doctor of the Nizhny Novgorod City Clinical Hospital No. 29, Maryana Lysenko, head doctor of the Moscow City Clinical Hospital No. 52, and Irina Koval, doctor of the Center for Hygiene and Epidemiology in the Kaliningrad Region. 

Recall that Denis Protsenko himself had a coronavirus infection. About his disease COVID-19 became known on March 31, the disease proceeded in a medium form. On April 15, the doctor wrote on his Facebook page that he had gone out of isolation after two tests showed he had no coronavirus.

This photograph of Denis Protsenko, which circulated around all the media today, was taken for us this morning by photographer Max Avdeev, in collaboration with whom RT is producing another film in the framework of the Epidemic series with Anton Krasovsky pic.twitter.com/0aS4Jezjd4

- RT in Russian (@RT_russian) March 31, 2020

Protsenko became the hero of several films by Anton Krasovsky on RT about the COVID-19 epidemic and a team of doctors fighting the infection. RT published the first major interview, “All Answers About Coronavirus,” on March 20. In it, the doctor, in particular, spoke about the first death of a patient with a new type of coronavirus in Russia, as well as the readiness of hospitals for a sharp jump in the number of infected people.

Putin announced his intention to award state awards to physicians who distinguished themselves during the pandemic at a meeting with medical workers the day before. The President emphasized that doctors managed to minimize losses from coronavirus in Russia. The head of state also recalled that from the first days of the epidemic, doctors were "at the forefront and constantly risked their health."

“Without exaggeration, I want to say that we are sincerely proud and admire your behavior, your professional feat. He helped each of us to fully realize and feel the true value of life, ”said Vladimir Putin.

The President emphasized that thanks to the dedicated work of Russian doctors, it was possible to minimize losses due to the spread of COVID-19.

“For many weeks they lived apart from relatives and friends, literally fought for people in the so-called red zones of hospitals and often really at the limit of human capabilities and strengths. And almost everyone worked like that: both ambulance and ambulance staff, general practitioners, medical specialists and paramedics, nurses, paramedical personnel, technicians and drivers. Everywhere: in cities, in the countryside, in hard-to-reach territories, ”Putin said.

Over the last day in Russia, 7,728 new cases of coronavirus were detected.

It is worth noting that in Moscow for the first time since the beginning of April, the number of cases recorded per day was less than a thousand - 968 of them were noted.

A total of 584,680 cases of COVID-19 have been recorded in the country since the beginning of the pandemic, 339,711 people have been cured of the disease for the entire period, 8111 patients have died.

According to the operational headquarters to combat the spread of coronavirus, no increase in incidence was recorded in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the lowest growth rate was recorded in Moscow.

“Subjects with the lowest growth rates per day: Nenets Autonomous Okrug - 0%, Moscow city - 0.5%, Jewish Autonomous Region - 0.8%, Republic of Crimea - 0.8%, Republic of North Ossetia - 0.8%, Chukchi AO - 0.8%, ”RIA Novosti reports.

It also became known that the Murmansk region has moved to a new stage in the removal of restrictions introduced due to the coronavirus. Recall, as Vladimir Putin previously reported, regional governors can mitigate or tighten restrictive measures, depending on the epidemiological situation in the region.