Putin to make national address after Russia's coronavirus cases spike by 163 to 658 confirmed infections

Vladimir Putin will make a national address in the next few minutes. The speech will be broadcast live online and on all national television networks. (You can watch it live here.) Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says the president decided on the necessity of a national address after meeting with the federal government’s coronavirus task force on March 24 and visiting a medical center in Moscow’s Kommunarka community, where the city is treating patients who test positive for COVID-19.

On March 25, Russia recorded 163 new cases of coronavirus, raising the number of total confirmed infections to 658 cases in 55 regions across the country. Twenty-nine patients have made full recoveries, so far.

On March 16, Meduza reported that Putin was reportedly planning to make a national address about the coronavirus outbreak in which he would postpone Russia’s nationwide plebiscite on constitutional amendments, which is currently scheduled for April 22.