Moscow City Hall is preparing for an eleven-day shutdown of all non-essential services starting next Thursday, in hopes of stemming the severe outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic hitting Russia.
Restaurants, beauty salons, clothing or furniture products stores, sports halls or dance schools, etc., have eight days to organize themselves before this closure, announced Thursday by the capital.
For several weeks, the country has continued to beat its records of deaths and contaminations in 24 hours, a hecatomb linked to the low vaccination rate and to which the authorities have been slow to react.
In recent days, they have finally announced their first concrete measures, such as the implementation of health passes or the strengthening of teleworking.
President Vladimir Putin ordered him a week of nonworking days in early November across Russia on Wednesday.
Moscow is by far the main epidemic center of the country and the mayor Sergei Sobyanin followed suit, announcing Thursday the suspension of the work of the majority of companies from October 28 and until November 7.
He specified on his blog that this would not concern places of “sale of drugs, food and basic necessities”.
“Experience shows us that non-working days are the most effective way to reduce the number of cases and deaths, because they allow a maximum number of chains of contamination to be broken in a short time,” said Mr. Sobianine.
During these eleven days, Muscovite theaters and museums will be able to continue to welcome the public but with a tonnage reduced by half and on condition of having a health pass.
From November 8, the health pass will also be made compulsory for all events bringing together more than 500 people in Moscow.
Death records
Moscow, like the rest of Russia, is facing the worst COVID-19 epidemic wave since the pandemic began in the spring of 2020.
On Thursday, the country broke again its record for contaminations and deaths in the past 24 hours, with 1,036 new deaths and more than 36,000 new cases, respectively.
The total death toll has now reached more than 227,000 people, according to government figures, making Russia the most bereaved country in Europe. The national statistics agency, which has a broader definition of COVID-19 deaths, reported at the end of August a much worse toll: more than 400,000 deaths.
The third wave of the epidemic is carried by the Delta variant, more contagious, and the low respect for wearing a mask and distancing measures, especially in transport and stores.
The vaccination campaign remains laborious because of the mistrust and the wait-and-see attitude of the Russians. Less than a third (32.4%) of them are vaccinated, according to the specialized site Gogov.
After weeks without concrete action, the first restrictive measures began to be announced in major cities and regions.
But the public authorities still refuse, for the time being, any containment or curfew, for fear of experiencing an already fragile economy.
The country has several domestically produced vaccines, including Sputnik V. The latter has not yet been licensed by the European Union (EU) and the World Health Organization (WHO), despite independent studies. proving its effectiveness.
On Thursday, a senior official of the Russian Ministry of Health, quoted by the Interfax agency, said he hoped for a new visit to Russia by inspectors from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) before the end of the year to finalize the recognition of Sputnik V.