Russia recorded more than 10,000 new coronavirus cases for the 7th day in a row

Ellen Cranley

May 9, 2020 10:35 PM

Russia has now recorded more than 10,000 cases of the novel coronavirus for the seventh day in a row .

russia coronavirus

On Saturday, the country recorded 10,817 new cases of the coronavirus in one day and 104 deaths, bringing the country's total cases to 198,676 and deaths to 1,827.
The country has risen to be the fifth-hardest hit in the global coronavirus pandemic.
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Russia recorded 10,817 new cases of the coronavirus in one day, marking the seventh day in a row the country counted more than 10,000 cases.

Reuters reported that Russian authorities said Saturday the new cases bring the total number of cases to 198,676. The country's coronavirus taskforce said that 104 people had died overnight, bringing the national death toll to 1,827.

The new totals mark Russia's ascent to the top rank of countries hit hardest by the novel coronavirus pandemic, as it has now surpassed that of France and Germany to become the site of the fifth-most infections in the world, Reuters noted.

Moscow, the country's capital, has been under lockdown since late March in response to the pandemic, in addition to some other regions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the steady, but stable, climb of new cases are just the beginning of the virus' hit to the country, according to CNN .

"The daily increase in cases has relatively stabilized but this mustn't calm us down, the situation is still very serious," Putin said. "The peak is not behind us, we are about to face a new and grueling phase of the pandemic... the deadly threat of the virus remains."

Business Insider's Will Martin previously reported that the virus rapidly tore through the country after most others were hard-hit in April.

On April 1 Russia had 2,777 confirmed cases, while the US had around 220,000. By May 3, Russia was up to 134,000 compared to the 1.16 million reported cases in the US.

Many healthcare workers and Russian media reports have highlighted frontline workers who are critical of the state's handling of the virus , specifically the sluggish rate of distributing supplies to those treating coronavirus patients.

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