Russia

With now over 330,000 reported cases, alone over 20,803 new cases reported on Friday, Brazil has become the country with the second most cases in the world. Only the United States have reported more cases, followed by Russia with 326,448 reported cases.

In a newly submitted legislation proposal, president Vladimir Putin seeks to add the subjects of patriotism and war history to Russia's education law. This follows an ongoing trend to further root Russian patriotism into the education system as the military has previously announced plans for annual student education programs. The new proposal also cites an article in the Constitution that hasn't been voted on, as the public vote on the constitutional changes has been postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

After confirming 18,508 new diagnostics Brazil has now the third-largest number of Covid-19 infections in the world, after the United States and Russia with 310,087 cases.

Death toll from the virus crossed the 20,000-mark with 1,188 deaths.

U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) stated it would not use the Russian ventilators sent to it by Moscow while an investigation is carried out into their safety.

Faulty “Aventa-M” ventilators are the suspected cause of a fire at the Saint George's Hospital in St Petersburg in which five Covid-19 patients died.

A fire that killed five people in the intensive care unit at St George Hospital, in St Petersburg, apparently started by a short-circuit in a ventilator.

According to Russia's NTV news website, the fire did not spread beyond one Covid-19 ward on the sixth floor, and doctors were quoted saying a short-circuit caused one ventilator "literally to explode".

Russia currently counts over 220,000 Covid-19 cases, more cases than both Italy and the UK. On Monday, the country recorded 11,656 new cases. The death toll remains lower than in many other countries, currently standing at around 2,000 Covid-19 related deaths.

After multiple locally transmitted cases, China has reclassified the city of Shulan near the borders of North Korea and Russia as "high risk" and has closed all public places including cinemas, libraries and others with the order that all residents must stay home with the exception of "unusual circumstances". The country had reported a total of 17 new cases on Sunday.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced his diagnose during a video meeting with Vladimir Putin. Mishustin is said to be self-isolating while Andrey Belousov, First Deputy Prime Minister, will serve as acting prime minister during his absence.

Russia may delay the public vote on amendments allowing Vladimir Putin to hold office potentially until 2036 due to the corona virus pandemic. The Kremlin has not yet officially rescheduled the vote originally planned for April 22nd. Putin intends to alter the constitution in order to get the chance for a fifth and sixth term as President.

The Moscow healthcare department announced that people who return from countries with increasing infection rates such as China, South Korea, Iran, France, Germany, Italy and others should self-isolate themselves for 14 days inside their own homes. Not following this could be punished by up to five years in prison.

The members of the US Congress reportedly have been warned by US intelligence officials that Russia was trying to interfere in the 2020 election campaign. The interference was directed to favor Republican President Donald Trump.

In an interview the former congressman for the republican party in California Dana Rohrabacher confirmed that he offered Julian Assange a presidential pardon in 2017. Before the confirmation, only Assange's lawyers claimed that a presidential pardon was offered to the WikiLeaks founder. The offer was tied to the condition that Assange provides prove that Russia hasn't been the source of the, by WikiLeaks published, internal emails from the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

The lawyers of the Wikileaks founder Julian Assange said that he's planning on calling a witness on the stand that will testify that Assange was offered a presidential pardon. The pardon was allegedly tied to Assange denying that Russia were responsible for the interference in the US elections. They claim that the offer was made by the former republican congressman   Dana Rohrabacher who claimed to act on behalf of President Donald Trump.