Moscow Starts Quarantine With Closure Of Non-Essential Services

Moscow and other Russian regions entered a period of paid non-working days from Thursday to Nov. 7, during which all non-essential shops and businesses will be closed and the people are advised to limit travel.

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Only essential services such as pharmacies, food stores and those for the sale of other essential goods will be open. Mass events or shows are also prohibited during mandatory holidays, while theaters and museums will continue to operate, but with the limitation of 50 percent of their capacity.

Schoolchildren will have vacations during these eleven days and college students will only be able to continue their studies at a distance. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobianin announced that at least 30 percent of unvaccinated workers will return to telework. He also asked citizens over 60 to remain in self-isolation until February 2020. The vaccination QR code will be mandatory from Nov. 8 for shows or sports activities to which over 500 people attend.

"Many Russians have decided that now is an ideal time to fly off for a foreign beach holiday instead of hunkering down at home. There were mixed feelings about the lockdown on the streets of Moscow on Thursday," Devdiscourse reported.

Russia registered 40,096 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, the highest daily count since the pandemic hit the country, taking the national tally to 8,392,697. The nationwide death toll grew by a single-day record of 1,159 to 235,057.

Meanwhile, Moscow reported 8,440 new cases, the highest in four months, taking the city's total to 1,795,010. Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said on Wednesday that around 67.8 percent of the population had received at least one dose of vaccines.

Previously, in order to contain the new wave of the pandemic, President Vladimir Putin ordered paid vacations to Russians from October 30 to November 7.