Coronavirus spreading from big cities to villages - Rospotrebnadzor head Popova
MOSCOW. Jan 19 (Interfax) - An increasing number of cases of Covid-19 have been reported from Russian villages, instead of big cities, head of Russian health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova said.
"Please note that we can see from an analysis of the epidemiological process that an increasing number of infections are being detected in rural populated localities, instead of central cities of the constituent territories," Popova said at a meeting of the Presidium of the Coordination Council for Coronavirus Response on Tuesday.
"This is where our efforts to fully oversee preventative measures and the availability of personal protective equipment are being focused in order to minimize routes of transmission and the risks of contamination in small towns, which are seeing such a situation," she said.
The coronavirus situation began to stabilize in Russia in January, but the virus is still spreading, although not so much as before, Popova said, adding that the effective reproductive number has been less than 1 in 83 regions of the country except St. Petersburg and Crimea.
"This is a good sign for the epidemic prognosis for the novel coronavirus," she said.
The situation is stabilizing in 66 constituent territories, the rate of infection is on the decline in seven, and growth is continuing in 13, Popova said.