On Wednesday, Russia's President Vladimir Putin supported a proposal to introduce paid non-working days from Oct. 30 to Nov. 7 to contain a hike in COVID-19 infections and related deaths.
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"It is now especially important to curb the peak of the pandemic new wave," Putin said and announced that regional authorities can launch the days off earlier or extend them if necessary.
This proposal was made on Tuesday by Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, who warned that current epidemiological measures are insufficient to reverse the trend in the number of daily infections.
Over the past 24 hours, for example, Russia’s official monitoring and response center confirmed 34,073 new COVID-19 cases. It also acknowledged that the nationwide death toll grew by a record daily increase of 1,028 cases.
Golikova even raised the possibility of declaring non-working days in the most affected regions as of October 23. Currently, the areas with the highest levels of contagion are located in the Caucasus, Tatarstan, Tomsk, and Kamchatka.
Putin asked his ministers to take the necessary measures to prevent what happens in some European countries where patients wait even days to enter a hospital.
"They have them in ambulances with assisted breathing apparatus. Some of them never arrive at the hospital due to the lack of beds," he commented, highlighting that the new COVID-19 peak is the consequence of low levels of vaccination. So far, only 32.4 percent of the Russian population has completed the recommended vaccination schedule.