KazPost

Kazakhstan News
Wednesday, Apr 17, 2024

Moscow Orders Fresh Virus Restrictions As Deaths Roar

Moscow Orders Fresh Virus Restrictions As Deaths Roar

At the national level, the government is considering keeping people off work for a week to reduce social contact in a bid to lower the tide of infections.

Moscow's mayor on Tuesday ordered the city's first coronavirus restrictions since the summer, as Russia registered 1,015 daily COVID deaths, a new record.

At the national level, the government is considering keeping people off work for a week to reduce social contact in a bid to lower the tide of infections.

President Vladimir Putin is expected to decide on Wednesday which government measures put to him should be implemented to curb the spread of the virus across the country.

But already Tuesday, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin ordered unvaccinated over-60s in the capital to work from home and extended mandatory vaccinations for service workers. Those restrictions take effect next Monday and are set to last until the end of February.

Sobyanin also told employers to move 30 percent of their staff to home working.

"With every day the number of people hospitalised with the severe form of the disease is growing," Sobyanin said in a statement.

The number of patients in a serious condition had "doubled" since the end of the summer, he added.

The measures were announced after Russia on Tuesday registered a new 24-hour high of 1,015 coronavirus deaths, bringing the country's official total to 225,325 -- the highest in Europe.

But figures published by statistics agency Rosstat in October suggested that more than 400,000 people had died in the country from the coronavirus.

'Difficult solutions'


Only 35 percent of Russians are vaccinated, and authorities are struggling to counter anti-vaccine sentiment. Independent polls show that more than half of Russians do not plan to get a shot, despite appeals from Putin.

Sobyanin said the authorities had hoped older Muscovites would vaccinate themselves after returning from the countryside at the end of the summer.

"Unfortunately, this did not happen," his statement said.

The surge in cases has come without any strict restrictions in place to limit Covid-19's spread, although several regions have re-introduced QR codes for access to public places.

Russian officials have been accused of downplaying the severity of the pandemic.

Earlier Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova called for the introduction of a non-working week starting from October 30 to curb the spread of the virus.

She proposed that the hardest-hit regions introduce such a measure from this Saturday.

"The solutions we are proposing are very difficult," Golikova told Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

"But we ask you to support these proposals and appeal to the head of state."

Golikova is due to submit her proposal to Putin for approval during a meeting on Wednesday.

'No trust' in vaccines


Russia has struggled to innoculate its citizens despite domestic vaccines including Sputnik being widely available.

Putin insists that Russia has handled the pandemic better than most countries, but even top officials have recently voiced concern.

Pyotr Tolstoy, deputy chairman of the lower house, said at the weekend that the authorities had "completely lost" an information campaign on coronavirus.

"There is no trust in people to go and vaccinate themselves, it is a fact," he said.

Putin's spokesman on Tuesday urged Russians to be "more responsible" and admitted that the government could have done more to explain the "lack of alternative to vaccines".

"There is a tradition to blame everything on the state," Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"But at the same time, we need a more responsible position from citizens of our country."

Western vaccines are not available in Russia, and Peskov insisted that bringing them into the country would not help the sluggish vaccination rates.

"The vaccinophobia of some citizens is not linked to the brand of vaccines," he said.

On Monday, the second city of Saint Petersburg announced it would tighten restrictions to battle the virus, introducing a health pass to regulate access to crowd events from November 1.

Newsletter

Related Articles

KazPost
0:00
0:00
Close
It's always the people with the dirty hands pointing their fingers
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
Europe is boiling: Extreme Weather Conditions Prevail Across the Continent
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
Historic Moment: Edgars Rinkevics, EU's First Openly Gay Head of State, Takes Office as Latvia's President
An Ominous Shift in Warfare: Western Powers Risk War Crimes and Violate International Norms with Cluster Bomb Supply to Ukraine
Bye bye democracy, human rights, freedom: French Cops Can Now Secretly Activate Phone Cameras, Microphones And GPS To Spy On Citizens
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
The New French Revolution
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
Corruption in the European Parliament - Business as usual
UK Crypto and Stablecoin Regulations Become Law as Royal Assent is Granted
Paris Suburb Grapples with Violence as Curfew Imposed: Saint-Denis Residents Express Dismay and Anger
A Delaware city wants to let businesses vote in its elections
Alef Aeronautics Achieves Historic Milestone with Flight Certification for World's First Flying Car
Google Blocked Access to Canadian News in Response to New Legislation
French Politicians Advocate for Pan-European Regulation on Social Media Influencers
×