A man visits a makeshift memorial for medics, who reportedly died in Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Region in the times of Covid-19) outbreak, in central Saint Petersburg, Russia, May 9. — Reuters
A man visits a makeshift memorial for medics, who reportedly died in Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Region in the times of Covid-19) outbreak, in central Saint Petersburg, Russia, May 9. — Reuters

Russia’s coronavirus cases overtook Italian and British infections to become the third highest in the world after a record daily rise hours before President Vladimir Putin was due to review the country’s lockdown regime.

According to Reuters, the official tally surged to 221,344, as the number of new cases of the novel coronavirus jumped by 11,656 in the past 24 hours.

More than half of all cases and deaths are in Moscow, the epicentre of Russia’s outbreak.

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