WHO: Russia reached coronavirus plateau

The COVID-19 pandemic in Russia has reached a plateau, but security measures must be followed when planning public events, World Health Organization spokeswoman Margaret Harris said at a briefing.

"Russia currently shows a plateau. However, in the country, as in many others, a large number of cases. It is certainly important to follow all safety measures. Russia does a huge number of tests, which is wonderful. And this is one of the reasons why infections are detected", A WHO spokeswoman said at a briefing.

One of the main measures to curb the spread of coronavirus infection is to maintain social distance, Harris emphasized.

At a briefing, reporters asked a WHO spokesperson how much, in her opinion, it is possible that Moscow will remove restrictive measures for holding the Victory Day parade on June 24.

“When someone plans to hold a mass event, we don’t say that you can’t do this. We say that it is necessary to conduct a risk assessment, work out what you can do safely to prevent the transmission of the virus”, Margaret Harris said.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Victory Parade on Red Square was postponed from May 9 to June 24 - on the day of the 75th anniversary of the first Victory Parade in 1945 in honor of the victory over Nazi Germany. The parade will begin at 10:00, and at 22:00 in the capital and other cities of Russia will be a festive salute.

As previously reported, huge stocks of medicines and personal protective equipment against COVID-19 were stockpiled for participants in the upcoming Victory Parade. According to Dmitry Trishkin, head of the Main Military Medical Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, on this occasion the military department stocked up more than one and a half million medical masks, over 700 thousand pairs of gloves, 30 thousand bottles of hand sanitizers and 560 thousand rapid tests for coronavirus infection.