- Russia has reported relatively few cases of novel coronavirus infections compared to other countries.
- However, experts question Russia's claims that the country has been mostly insulated from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
- News reports show hundreds of workers constructing a roughly 500-bed hospital about 31 miles (50 kilometers) outside of Moscow.
- New satellite photos reveal the scale of the facility being built in response to the pandemic.
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Russia has reported 1,836 cases of COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus, as of Monday.
That's a drop in the bucket compared to the rest of the developed world, certainly relative to the US with its more than 153,000 cases. Until recently, Russia was reportedly downplaying its risk and spread of the pandemic, despite having a large migrant workforce and scores of international travelers.
But the country is now showing unmistakable signs that its coronavirus problem is likely far larger than has been officially reported.
On Sunday, all 11.5 million residents of Moscow were told they "would be forbidden to leave their homes starting Monday and will need special passes to move around the city,"The New York Times reported.
New satellite photos that were taken by Maxar also show a large hospital facility rapidly emerging from a field about 31 miles (50 kilometers) outside of Moscow's city center. Reports over the past three weeks suggested Russia was planning to construct multiple coronavirus hospitals, and several have recently broken ground.
The construction site near Moscow is about 106 acres (43 hectares) in area, according to a March 19 report by RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. The outlet also quoted Fyodor Katasonov, a pediatrician and medical specialist at Moscow's Global Medical Systems clinic, as saying the hospital's appearance is "the necessary, belated minimum" response to the pandemic's spread.
The following satellite images show the scale of the site and the pace of activity from above.
This image shows the scene of the future hospital on November 11, 2019 — more than a month before the pandemic emerged in or around Wuhan, China.
This is the same location on March 28, 2020. An entire field of crops has been scoured into an expansive and bustling emergency construction yard.
This before-and-after tool shows the preceding two images for comparison. The photo at left was taken by Maxar's WorldView-3 satellite; the image at right was taken by WorldView-2.
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A zoomed-in version shows the heart of the construction site.
Roughly a dozen cranes are working simultaneously to lift girders and other building materials into place.
At the east end of the site, hundreds of construction workers' cars can be seen parked in a field.
Just across the street is a small village and what appears to 50 large tents. Such tents may be barracks to permit around-the-clock work.
