In Russia, COVID-19 surge shows no signs of abating

By DARIA LITVINOVA
Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — Daily coronavirus cases and deaths in Russia remain at their highest numbers of the pandemic. Russia’s state coronavirus task force reported more than 40,000 new confirmed cases for the fifth time in seven days.The task force on Wednesday also reported a daily record of 1,189 COVID-19 deaths. Russia is five days into a nationwide non-working period that the government introduced to curb outbreaks. It is set to end after Sunday, but several regions say residents need to stay off work longer to tame an unrelenting surge of infections. A Kremlin spokesman says a decision hasn’t been made on prolonging the order across the country.