Coronavirus | Moscow begins free antibody tests

Number of cases in Russia crosses 2,60,000, the second-highest in world.

May 15, 2020 10:40 pm | Updated 10:42 pm IST

Fit and active: A 100-year-old patient leaving the recovery ward of a hospital in Moscow on Friday.

Fit and active: A 100-year-old patient leaving the recovery ward of a hospital in Moscow on Friday.

Russia’s coronavirus ( COVID-19 ) case tally rose above 2,60,000 on Friday, cementing its status as the country with the second highest number of infections after the United States, as the city of Moscow began offering free antibody tests.

Russia’s death toll rose by 113 overnight to reach 2,418, Russia’s coronavirus task force said, while the case tally jumped by 10,598 to hit 2,62,843. Moscow, the epicentre of Russia’s outbreak, started mass antibody testing of residents on Friday to try to work out what portion of the population has already been infected and to identify infected people with no symptoms. Sergei Sobyanin, Moscow’s Mayor, has promised over 2,00,000 such tests a day by the end of May, and said the programme will help him decide how and when to ease lockdown measures which have forced many businesses to close.

Though Russia was quick to seal off much of its border with China to try to reduce the spread of the virus, it was slower to close down European travel. Many richer Russians caught the virus during their annual ski holiday at the French ski resort of Courchevel in March, six Russians familiar with the matter said, three of whom fell ill after their own trip there. One of them, Alexander Sorkin, a restaurateur, flew back via Geneva on March 9 and was diagnosed with the virus several days later. He said he knew of at least 60 others with virus symptoms after the trip.

One Russian banker said he knew a number of people who returned on the March 9 flight from Geneva but then ignored an order from Moscow authorities to self-isolate for two weeks.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.