In late March, Vladimir Putin declared the coronavirus epidemic was under control in Russia.
Key points:
- A surge in infections has Russia reporting the second-highest number of cases in the world
- Early on in the pandemic, Moscow sent medics, ventilators and protective equipment to Italy
- A Reuters investigation found some ventilators in hospitals in regional Russia could be defective
With characteristic machismo, the President told Russians to heed social distancing advice, but insisted they’d “managed to contain a mass invasion and spread of the disease”.
Now, a surge in infections has Russia reporting the second-highest number of reported cases in the world, after the United States.
Every day this week, at least 10,000 new cases have been confirmed, with the overall number of cases over 250,000.
In Moscow — the epicentre of the pandemic — the city’s mayor has said the true number of cases could be as many as 300,000.
Yet the country’s relatively low death toll stands at 2,305.
It has prompted some demographers to dispute the figure, given Moscow’s death rate for April alone appears to be up by almost 20 per cent.
Even those in Mr Putin’s inner circle are getting sick with COVID-19.
His spokesman was hospitalised on Tuesday, becoming the sixth Kremlin official to test positive, while Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has been in hospital for weeks.
On top of that, Russia has an ageing population and a rundown health system in some parts of the sprawling nation.
But the President — eager to give Russia’s