Russia: fear of “Third wave” in Moscow, mini-lockdown
The mayor of Moscow has sounded the alarm of a spike in COVID-19 cases as both the Russian capital and the rest of the country reported the highest number of new coronavirus infections since winter. A kind of third wave, mini for now, but still possible
Nationwide, 12,505 new cases have been recorded in the past 24 hours, the highest number since the end of February, bringing the national tally to 5,180,454 since the start of the pandemic.
Of that total, 5,853 new cases were reported in Moscow, a record for the capital since mid-January, prompting Mayor Sergei Sobyanin to say COVID-19 was becoming more difficult to treat. So it was decided to go straight into action.
Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin announced a series of new measures aimed at countering the “deteriorating” coronavirus situation in the Russian capital. The measures only the following:
- one week of paid leave for workers;
- a curfew for nightlife.
Russia has reported 13,510 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, most of which occurred in Moscow, medical authorities said Saturday. A total of 6,701 positive tests were recorded in the largest city in Europe, which is the highest daily number since January.
Several hours after these figures were made public, Sobyanin said workers in Moscow will receive a week's paid vacation to stop the alarming trend. This means that the so-called “long weekend” will last from 12 to 20 June in the capital. An extension of an already planned holiday period.
The extra days of vacation “will allow us to cope with the increase in infections only if each of us takes the utmost caution. And of course, we need to vaccinate more actively to protect our loved ones and ourselves, ”Sobyanin stressed, adding that all vaccination centers will remain operational in the city.
Moscow will open extra hospital capacity and step up measures to control Covid-19 as cases increase in Europe's largest city
It also recommended that employers send 30% of their staff to work from home, including anyone over 65 and anyone with a chronic illness.
Throughout the next week, restaurants, bars and nightclubs will be banned from accepting guests between 11pm and 6am, while at these times only take-out and food deliveries will be allowed, according to the mayor's ordinance.
Moscow's largest parks will also shut down their rides and close children's playgrounds and other entertainment venues as part of the restrictions.
The decrease in the epidemiological situation is forcing the capital to once again reuse thousands of hospital beds for Covid-19 patients. Doctors warn of a large number of serious cases, many of them among middle-aged or even young people, Sobyanin said. “We cannot leave such a situation without an answer,” he added, explaining the need for the measures.
Russia has three approved vaccines, Sputnik is not alone, but it was the first and the most tested. In Russia there is no problem with the availability of vaccines, on the contrary, they are abundant. The problem, if anything, is that Russians don't really want to get vaccinated.
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The article Russia: fear of "Third wave" in Moscow, mini-lockdown comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/russia-timore-di-terza-ondata-a-mosca-mini-lockdown/ on Sat, 12 Jun 2021 17:13:56 +0000.