Moscow is closing down a bit – The Post

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on Monday Asked Non-essential workers should stay home from work until Saturday and tighten restrictions to try to contain the spread of the coronavirus infection. Indeed, in recent days, about half of the verified cases throughout Russia were identified in Moscow, and despite the fact that a few weeks ago Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the country is gradually returning to normal, now the situation in the capital is again alarming : According to experts, restrictive measures are too light and above all a slow and ineffective vaccination campaign.

Sobyanin urged workers in non-essential activities not to go to work from Tuesday 15 to Saturday 19 June, and in the following period he encouraged various companies and companies in Moscow that at least 30 percent of employees who have not already been vaccinated work from home. The city’s bars, clubs and restaurants will be closed from 11pm-6am at least until June 20, and shopping malls, sports facilities and children’s play areas, among other things, will be closed.

Because ofIncrease in infections, which began to grow again in particular since the end of May, the Moscow authorities decided last week Hospitals reopen Created specifically to treat COVID-19 patients. On Sunday, 14,723 cases of coronavirus were detected in Russia, the highest number of infections since last February, and more than half of these cases were detected in Moscow alone. For the Russian capital it’s the worst situation since December: too أيض Monday About half of the infections detected in the country are related to cases identified in Moscow (6,590 out of 13,721).

Although Sobyanin said he did not want to impose a lockdown to stop the spread of infection, his announcement reflects clear concern about the progress of the epidemic, something that appears to contradict the confident and resolute position of the Russian authorities. throughout the epidemic.

In the statement issued on Monday, Sobyanin said that the epidemic situation in the past week had “significantly deteriorated,” adding that it was necessary to significantly speed up vaccination “to stop the growth of infection and save people’s lives.” Just a few weeks ago Putin said that while “half the world is at home, our situation is better than many other countries”: according to Putin, in short, life in Russia was “gradually returning to normal.”

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Since the beginning of the epidemic in Russia they have been have found More than 5 million infections and more than 126,000 deaths from causes related to COVID-19 for about 145 million people. According to the experts cite it financial timesIn particular, the growth of infection in recent weeks has been determined by two factors.

First of all, it has to do with the fact that restrictions are loosened to limit the spread of infection early, as happened already last summer, when infections of the so-called second wave of the epidemic began gradually. again until it culminates on December 25th. Moreover, the extremely slow and ineffective vaccination campaign has something to do with it, despite the fact that already in August Russia announced that it was the first to create a vaccine against the coronavirus that Putin himself had identified at that time “As effective as a Kalashnikov” – He. She Sputnik – Although it was authorized for emergency use in the following months Three more vaccines (Two of them have already been used for several months.)

Sputnik V in Russia was started in early December, several weeks before the first vaccines authorized in Europe (Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna), but so far only 12 percent of the population has received at least one dose of the vaccine due to various production and problems distribution. For comparison, based on Data provided by the Ministry of HealthAmong those authorized by the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA), Italians who have completed the course of vaccination more than 24 percent and more than half of the population have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine

Among other things, according to some pollsters cited financial times Most Russians are afraid of coronavirus vaccines and say they don’t want to be vaccinated. To try to speed up the vaccination campaign in Moscow Sobyanin announce An initiative similar to the one launched in recent weeks in the United States of America: Muscovites who received their first dose of the vaccine between June 14 and July 11 will be able to win one of 20 cars ready to be grabbed in a lottery organized specifically to convince residents to get vaccinated.