would last until the end of 2021 with the target of bringing the unemployment rate back to under 5% and economic growth of 2.5% a year. the ministry of defence said that it had selected fifty military personnel, including five women, who volunteered to test the safety and effectiveness of a vaccine. they will undergo preparations and examinations starting on 3 june. on 3 june, 8,536 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 432,277. confirmed deaths rose to 5,215. that day, the city of st. petersburg reported a 32% higher death rate in may compared to the previous year. the city government said that 6,427 death certificates were issued, compared to 4,875 the previous year. for the same month, the official coronavirus death toll was 171 people. overall, the city has 17,069 confirmed cases and 240 confirmed deaths. 1 patient died in a st. petersburg hospital that day after a fire. on 4 june, 8,831 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 441,108. confirmed deaths rose to 5,384. moscow's mayor, sobyanin, said that most restrictions would be lifted by 1 july. he said a schedule for lifting restrictions may be published on 8 june. he also said that starting 1 june, 55% of shops closed due to the virus have reopened with the rest set to open in the next week, however he said that it was too early to open some facilities like gyms. a second batch of ventilators sent by the united states also landed that day by plane. it contained 150 ventilators, while the first batch, which had 50 ventilators, landed on 21 may. on 5 june, 8,726 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 449,834. confirmed deaths rose to 5,528. meduza reported that 3 regions would not be holding victory day parades and celebrations on 24 june due to the epidemic. belgorod oblast postponed celebrations to 12 july, oryol oblast has scheduled celebrations for 5 august and perm krai will possibly hold its parade on 3 september. the central bank of russia said that it saw signs of continuing decline in economic activity. on 6 june, 8,855 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 458,689. confirmed deaths rose to 5,725. on 7 june, 8,984 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 467,673. confirmed deaths rose to 5,869. the federal air transport agency was reported to suggest resuming flights with 15 countries on 15 july. it planned to send its proposals to rospotrebnadzor and the list of countries will be drawn up together by the federal air transport agency and the consumer rights watchdog. on 8 june, 8,985 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 476,658. confirmed deaths rose to 5,971. moscow's mayor, sobyanin, said that the city would lift coronavirus restrictions. self-isolation rules and travel permits would be waived on 9 june, with no more walking schedules. residents would be able to freely travel around the city and visit public places. places like beauty salons, hairdressers and veterinarian clinics would re-open, with other places like restaurants re-opening over the course of june. residents are still required to wear face masks and gloves and are advised to maintain their distance from others. that day, prime minister mishustin also announced the partial re-opening of the border for some travellers, saying that it would allow citizens to leave the country for work, studying, medical treatment or to take care of relatives. it would also allow foreign citizens to enter for medical treatment or those needing to care for relatives and family. the border was shut on 30 march. prime minister mishustin said that the country was ready for the gradual opening of the holiday season. the transport ministry said that it was too early to set a date for resuming international flights. on 9 june, 8,595 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 485,253. confirmed deaths rose to 6,141. crimea's head, sergey aksyonov, said that restrictions on hosting tourists from other russian regions would be lifted on 1 july. on 10 june, 8,404 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 493,657. confirmed deaths rose to 6,358. ekho moskvy reported that approximately 15,700 people died in moscow in may according to preliminary data, citing an unnamed source, an increase of about 57% compared to the average of the last 3 years. moscow's mayor, sobyanin, said that it would take about 2 months for moscow to exit from all restrictions. moscow's health department increased the city's coronavirus death toll from 1,895 to 5,260 for may. it said in a statement that "covid-19 as a main or an accompanying cause of death was registered in 5,260 cases". it also said that the difference was due to changes made by the health ministry in the approach of counting deaths, saying that "new recommendations allowed us to improve the calculation of cases where covid was the main cause of the death and of those where it became, with a high degree of probability, a catalyst...for other illnesses". on 11 june, 8,779 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 502,436. confirmed deaths rose to 6,532. russian direct investment fund said in a statement that the first batch of antivar drugs were delivered to hospitals. it said that as many as 60,000 courses of avifavir will be delivered in june and that production could be increased to 2 million courses a year if necessary. the drug is produced by a joint venture of rdif and chemrar group and is currently one of two registered drugs in the world for covid-19. kremlin spokesman dmitry peskov said that there was nothing strange about russia's data, responding to executive director of the who health emergencies program michael ryan's description of russia's mortality rate as "unusual". ryan also said that when many people are tested, they can see relatively low mortality rates. peskov also said that president putin would return to face-to-face meetings soon, but no specific date was set. moscow's health department said that discrepancies in data between it and the official government portal is due to the city's final numbers not being sent. russian railways also said that it would return the sapsan trains between moscow and st. petersburg to its normal schedule on 24 june. the website znak also reported that by that day, at least 10 major cities have cancelled their victory day parades due to the risk of the virus spreading. on 12 june, 8,987 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 511,423. confirmed deaths rose to 6,715. president putin made his first public appearance since victory day on 9 may to mark russia day, as he sought to rally support for reforming the constitution in the upcoming vote. on 13 june, 8,706 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 520,129. confirmed deaths rose to 6,829. the federal statistics agency, rosstat, published mortality data for april which included a coronavirus death toll of 2,712 nationwide compared to the official death toll of 1,152. the death toll includes those who tested positive for the virus, but the main cause of death was determined to be something else. the figures include 1,270 deaths where the virus was determined to be the main cause as well as 435 deaths where the virus had a "significant influence", 617 deaths where the virus was present but did not play a major role, and 390 deaths where the person tested negative but it was later determined to be the main cause of death. officials including tatiana golikova said that the changes in the counting method follows who recommendations. she also said that the figures represent a 2.6% death rate among those infected, and that the death rate for may will be higher. on 14 june, 8,835 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 528,964. confirmed deaths rose to 6,948. on 15 june, 8,246 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 537,210. confirmed deaths rose to 7,091. kommersant reported that chelyabinsk, penza and yakutsk cancelled their victory day parades on 24 june because of the risk of the virus spreading. president putin also extended the period in which foreign nationals whose visas have expired after 15 march can stay to 15 september. on 16 june, 8,248 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 545,458. confirmed deaths rose to 7,284. crimean authorities reversed the decision of cancelling the victory day parade in simferopol on 24 june after announcing that it would be cancelled earlier in the day. crimea's leader, sergey aksyonov said that the decision to hold the parade was "after lengthy consultations, including with the defense ministry of the russian federation and rospotrebnadzor" and that crimea would take "unprecedented measures" to ensure safety. who representative to russia, melita vujnovic, said that russia is capable of creating conditions to safely proceed with the referendum and victory day parade. it was reported that at least 30 regions in russia had cancelled their victory day parades on 24 june or will hold them without spectators. on 17 june, 7,843 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 553,301. confirmed deaths rose to 7,478. krasnodar krai would ease restrictions for incoming tourists and allow free movement within the region starting 21 june. on 18 june, 7,790 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 561,091. confirmed deaths rose to 7,660. the defence ministry said that, with the gamaleya national research centre for epidemiology and microbiology, clinical trials for a vaccine were carried out on 18 volunteers that day. politician mikhail ignatyev, who served as head of the chuvash republic until being dismissed earlier in the year, was reported to have died from the virus. alla samoilova, the head of roszdravnadzor, said that 489 medical workers who were infected with the virus had died. the press service of roszdravnadzor later said that the number was not official but data from the internet. moscow deputy mayor for economic policy and property and land relations vladimir efimov said that business activity in the city had returned to pre-lockdown levels. on 19 june, 7,972 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 569,063. confirmed deaths rose to 7,841. deputy mayor of moscow for social development anastasia rakova said that wedding registrations and ceremonies would resume from 23 june in registry offices. she said that it was still necessary to wear masks and gloves, as well as to practise social distancing in registry offices. she also said that ceremonial halls would be sanitised after each ceremony. moscow oblast governor andrey vorobyov signed a decree allowing museums to re-open from 25 june, sports facilities from 1 july and children's camps from 15 july. from 25 june, all retail stores would be able to re-open. on 20 june, 7,889 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 576,952. confirmed deaths rose to 8,002. director of the gamaleya centre for epidemiology and microbiology, alexander gunzburg, said that the production of a vaccine could start in the autumn. on 21 june, 7,728 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 584,680. confirmed deaths rose to 8,111. the number of people who recovered from the virus exceeded the number of new infections for the first time during the 3rd week of june. on 22 june, 7,600 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 592,280. confirmed deaths rose to 8,206. moscow's mayor, sobyanin, said that from 23 june, cafes and restaurants would re-open as well as fitness centres and swimming pools. restrictions for libraries, kindergartens would be lifted. it would also be possible to sit on benches and take children to the playground, however the face-mask rules would still apply. deputy prime minister tatyana golikova said that some restrictions would have to remain in the autumn, including wearing face-masks. prime minister mishustin added passenger rail and water transport industries into the government list of industries most affected by the pandemic. on 23 june, 7,425 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 599,705. confirmed deaths rose to 8,359. the buddhist leader in tuva, dzhampel lodoy, was announced to have died from the virus in a social media post. president putin, in a televised address, said that the country's response to the virus had saved tens of thousands of lives