Battle strategy against COVID-19 varies depending on circumstances, says Kremlin

Peskov

MOSCOW, April 24./TASS/: Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov says President Vladimir Putin stays in constant touch with the regional leadership regarding the coronavirus situation. The deployment of additional hospital beds depends on the changing circumstances that unfold, he said.

Replying to reporters on Friday, Peskov stressed that if Putin’s conversations with the governments "are not shown during teleconferences, this does not mean that no work is being carried out with the governors of those regions where the situation is worse in this respect [readiness to receive COVID-19 patients]".

"Work continues on a daily basis, difficulties with commissioning new capacities in many regions come to a great extent from objective reasons, and in this case the region’s leadership is trying to unblock this situation in cooperation with the federal center," Peskov stressed.

When asked whether the tasks for the regions could change, the spokesman said that "everything changes depending on the situation." "The situation is flexible — we saw a high pace in the growth of infected people in Moscow, now this pace has shifted to the regions, which is why the tactics and strategies must be varied depending on that. This is what the crisis center is doing," Peskov elaborated.

To date, a total of 62,773 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 4,891 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 555 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.