Russian Health Minister Says Restrictions Are Working But Coronavirus Cases Jump Again

Russia has recorded another sharp jump in total coronavirus cases even as the country’s health minister said some of the government’s restrictions were helping to blunt the rate of increase.

Mikhail Murashko’s comments, in an interview on April 20 on state TV, came a day after President Vladimir Putin proclaimed that the country’s coronavirus situation was “fully under control.”

The government task force overseeing the national response to the virus said that new cases jumped by more than 4,200 over the past day, rising to 47,121 cumulative cases. The death toll stood at 405 as of April 20.

The continued rise in figures comes despite Russia’s early, aggressive moves to respond to the spreading virus and impose tight restrictions.

Even before many European nations started imposing restrictions, Moscow moved to shut down much of the country’s vast border with China, where the virus first emerged.

“We can see that social distancing and self-isolation measures have been effective,” Murashko said in the interview with Rossia-24 TV.

He said fewer seriously ill patients were being admitted to hospitals.

A day earlier, in a recorded video address to mark the Orthodox Easter holiday, Putin sought to reassure Russians that the government was succeeding in curtailing the disease’s spread.

“All branches of governments are working rhythmically, responsibly, in an organized manner,” Putin said. “The situation is under full control.”

A week earlier, however, Putin gave a candid assessment of the country’s fight so far, warning that the peak in cases was yet to come.

“We have many problems and we don’t have much to brag about,” Putin told a televised meeting of cabinet officials. “We are not past the peak of the epidemic, especially not in Moscow.”

With reporting by Interfax