Russia

MOSCOW, May 3 (Xinhua) -- Russia on Sunday reported a new single-day record with 10,633 COVID-19 cases confirmed over the last 24 hours, raising its total number of infections to 134,687, its coronavirus response center said in a statement.

Russia has been updating its single-day record every day since April 30, the center's data showed.

The death toll from the pandemic increased by 58 to 1,280 on Sunday, while 16,639 people have recovered, including 1,626 over the last 24 hours, the statement said.

ROSTOV-ON-DON, May 3. /TASS/: An evacuation flight from Thailand’s Phuket has landed at Platov Airport in Rostov-on-Don, Ural Airlines told TASS on Sunday.

"The flight from Phuket has arrived," the airline said.

On Saturday, a plane with 116 Russians onboard departed from Thailand to Yekaterinburg. This is another evacuation flight performed by the airline with the assistance of the Russian government, the Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Communications.

Ural Airlines has carried out a total of seven evacuation flights from Thailand since April 12.

MOSCOW, May 2. /TASS/: Russian and Turkish servicemen conducted a regular joint patrol mission in Syria’s al-Hasakah governorate, the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Parties in Syria said on Saturday.

The mission was conducted under the Russian-Turkish memorandum of understanding of October 22, 2019.

"A regular joint Russian-Turkish patrol mission was conducted along the route Delawi-Kara - Jilliqa - al-Firdaus - Akka - Shamsiyah - Akka - al-Firdaus - Jilliqa - Delawi-Kara in the al-Hasakah governorate," it said.

MOSCOW, May 2. /TASS/: Italy’s NATO and European Union allies were unable to help it combat the coronavirus epidemic and tries to discredit Russia accusing it of being guided by propaganda considerations when it sent its military medics to that country, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said on Saturday.

MOSCOW, May 2. /TASS/: The Nord Stream 2 AG company, which operates the Nord Stream 2 project, does not agree with the German Federal Network Agency’s preliminary decision to deny the company a waiver under the EU Gas Directive, the company’s spokesperson Jens Mueller told TASS.

"We are aware of the information shared by the German authority, BNetzA, with the participants in the procedure. We do not agree with this conclusion. We will wait for the formal decision of the authority and of course evaluate it and further actions to preserve our rights," he said.

MOSCOW, May 2. /TASS/: More than 2,900 novel coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the Russian armed forces and the defense ministry’s educational facilities, the Russian Defense Ministry said in its daily bulletin on Saturday.

"In the course of large-scale testing in the Russian armed forces in a period from March to May 2, a total of 1,177 servicemen tested positive," the ministry said, adding that one servicemen is in serious condition, fourteen servicemen are in condition of moderate gravity, and the rest show no symptoms.

MOSCOW, May 1. /TASS/: Chief of Russia’s sanitary watchdog Anna Popova said on Friday that she thinks it is a right measure when Russian regions bind people to weak face masks in public places amid the coronavirus epdemic.

Earlier, Moscow region’s governor decreed that everyone must weak face masks in public places from May 12. Similar measures are already in force in some other Russian regions.

VLADIVOSTOK, May 2. /TASS/: Two individuals were injured due to the gas bottle explosion at the Russia’s largest floating factory Vsevolod Sibirtsev in Nakhodka, the Marine Rescue and Coordination Center in Vladivostok told TASS.

"The bottle explosion occurred during hot work. Two individuals were injured. One of them is in serious condition," the Center said.

Vsevolod Sibirtsev is one of two largest floating factories across the globe. The vessel is 179 meters long and has the displacement of 26,000 tonnes.

MOSCOW, May 2. /TASS/: The actual number of people infected with the coronavirus in Moscow amounts to about two percent of the city’s population, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Saturday.

"Judging by the health screening of various population groups, the actual number of those infected amounts to about two percent of Moscow’s population. It is the lowest level among major global cities hit by the pandemic. We succeeded in preventing the infection from spreading through discipline and Muscovites’ support for self-isolation measures," the mayor wrote on his blog.

MOSCOW, May 2. /TASS/: Russia’s Sports Ministry continues work to implement the National Projects despite the coronavirus pandemic, Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin said in an interview with TASS.

"Priorities are changing a little because of the current situation. However, creative cooperation goes on, we continue to work on inter-agency programs adopted last hear," he noted. "Tough times bring people closer together and remove unnecessary formalities," he added.