Coronavirus latest: Moscow eases lockdown despite high caseload; China takes dig at US over WHO exit
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President Vladimir Putin said last week that Russia had passed the peak of its epidemic and is anxious to get the country moving again, especially in Moscow where he announced plans for huge military parade on June 24.
Russia continues to record a significant number of coronavirus cases - with 9,035 new infections on Monday bringing its total to 414,878, behind only the United States and Brazil in the global tally.
With more than half of the recorded cases in Moscow and the surrounding region, authorities in the city of more than 12 million have been cautious in lifting restrictions in place since March 30.
On Monday, retail shops and shopping malls were allowed to reopen and residents were able to exercise outdoors before 9am, but with masks required at all times and gloves needed in shops and on public transport.
As a two-week test measure, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said residents will be allowed to take walks within two kilometres of their homes according to a staggered schedule based on their address.
The convoluted system, which allows walks between 9am and 9pm no more than three times a week, has drawn ridicule, with some quipping that life in Moscow was beginning to imitate dystopian fiction such as the novels of Aldous Huxley and Yevgeny Zamyatin.
Popular comedian Maxim Galkin, who has nearly eight million followers on Instagram, released a sketch in which Putin and Sobyanin discuss a “breathing schedule” for Moscow residents.
