Russian Defence Ministry to Build 16 Infectious Disease Centres in Country by 16 May

Earlier in the day, Russia's coronavirus response centre reported 182 new COVID-19 cases in 18 regions over the past 24 hours, with the total count reaching 840, and two deaths related to the coronavirus infection.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu stated on Thursday that the country's defence ministry will build 16 infectious disease centres by 16 May.

"We plan to conduct the construction in two stages. Eight enters will be launched by April 30: in Odintsovo, Podolsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Volgograd, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Ulan-Ude and Ussuriysk. By May 15, the construction of the remaining eight centres, with a total of 800 beds, should be completed: in Leningrad region, Smolensk, Kaliningrad, Rostov-on-Don, Sevastopol, Omsk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy and Khabarovsk," Shoigu said at a cabinet meeting.

The national government announced earlier this week that it would allocate 8.8 billion rubles ($112.32 million) for this purpose, as part of the effort on fighting COVID-19.

According to the recent data provided by the Russian coronavirus response centre, 182 new COVID-19 cases in 18 regions have been registered over the past 24 hours, with the total count now reaching 840, and two deaths related to the coronavirus infection.

At the same time, nine people have been discharged from hospitals across the country as they have recovered from COVID-19. The total number of people who have recovered has reached 38.