COVID-19: Russia records 8,946 new infections in 24 hours

Health authorities in Russia have recorded 8,946 new COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours with the number of cases in the country climbing to 353,427, as at Monday, 25th, May.

It said the number of fatalities had risen by 92 overnight, taking the overall nationwide death toll from the virus to 3,633.

Meanwhile, the United State of America has placed a ban on all travel into the US by non-citizens who have been in Brazil as cases of infections and death from COVID-19 continues to increase.

“We hope that it will be temporary, but because of the situation in Brazil, we’re going to take every step necessary to protect the American people,” National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien told CBS’s Face the Nation programme on Sunday.

Brazil registered 653 deaths on Sunday and an additional 15,813 cases, bringing the total to 363,211.

Writing on Twitter, Filipe Martins, a foreign affairs adviser to President Jair Bolsonaro played down the move saying the ban was “nothing specific against Brazil” and the US was following “preciously established parameters”.

More than 5.3 million people around the world have been infected with the coronavirus to date, according to Johns Hopkins University. Also, more than 344,000 people have died, while more than two million have recovered.