Russia

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s boast in August that it was the first country to authorize a coronavirus vaccine led to skepticism at the time because of its insufficient testing. Six months later, as demand for the Sputnik V vaccine grows, experts are raising questions again — this time, over whether Moscow can keep up with all the orders from the countries that want it.

MOSCOW, March 6. /TASS/: The coronavirus situation in Russia is improving, the World Health Organization’s Representative to Russia, Melita Vujnovic, has said.

"For the second week in a row, fewer than 1 million new cases are recorded in the WHO European Region, to which Russia belongs, the transmission of the infection in the regions continues to slow down. The decrease in the number of new cases over the past month is due to those countries, which take steps in public healthcare and the social sphere, and the Russian Federation is among them," she said.

MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/: Russia has never refused to cooperate with American partners and will respond constructively to positive signals on their part, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday.

MOSCOW, March 6. /TASS/: Russia’s coronavirus cases grew by 11,022 in the past 24 hours, the total number of infected people has reached 4,312,181, the anti-coronavirus crisis center told reporters on Saturday.

In relative terms, the growth rate stands at 0.26%, as follows from the data provided by the crisis center.

The lowest growth rates were recorded in Tuva (0.04%), Ingushetia and the Magadan Region (0.07%).

MOSCOW, March 6. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin and his aide Maxim Oreshkin who has tested positive for COVID-19 had no face-to-face contacts recently, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS.

"No, there were no [face-to-face] contacts," he said.

On Saturday, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said that Oreshkin had tested positive for COVID-19, adding that he keeps in touch with the presidential aide.

MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/: Moscow will soon publish a blacklist in response to US sanctions, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Channel One’s Vremya Pokazhet (or Time Will Tell) show on Friday.

"Given how they [the Americans] are acting, including the fact that they published all lists at once, I think that we will cheer them up soon. Work is underway. Don’t think that noting is being done if we aren’t talking about it," she said when asked when Russia would respond to US sanctions over the situation around blogger Alexey Navalny.

MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/: The EpiVacCorona coronavirus vaccine, developed by Russia’s State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology Vector, has been approved for people over 60, the national consumer health watchdog said in a statement on Friday.

"The EpiVacCorona vaccine has successfully finished phase three and four clinical trials among people over the age of 60. The trials proved that it is effective and safe for elderly people. That said, EpiVacCorona has been approved for people aged over 60," the statement reads.

04 Mar 2021; MEMO: The Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights, Anna Kuznetsova, has revealed that her country has repatriated 145 Russian children of former Daesh militants from Syria and Iraq since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

MOSCOW, March 4. /TASS/: Flu vaccination reduces the risk of death for coronavirus patients by 23%, Director General of the Russian Health Ministry’s National Cardiology Research Center Sergei Boitsov said during a scientific conference on the prevention of infectious diseases amid the coronavirus pandemic on Thursday.

MOSCOW, March 4. /TASS/: A Tsirkon hypersonic missile will be test-launched from an underwater carrier for the first time no sooner than June, a high-placed source in the domestic defense industry told TASS on Thursday.

"The Tsirkon may be test-launched for the first time from the [Northern Fleet’s nuclear-powered submarine] Severodvinsk in June as the earliest date. There is no exact date for the start of trials so far," he said.