MOSCOW, April 8. /TASS/. It is too early to speak about reducing the period of the coronavirus lockdown in Russia, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
When asked of a decision on reducing the non-working period would be made next week, he said that "it would be too early to say that." "Not enough time has passed to clarify the trend emerging from the move to make people minimize their social contacts," he said.
Peskov pointed out that President Vladimir Putin’s April 7 meeting with infectious disease experts "was not aimed at making a decision."
"A conversation was held yesterday in order to figure out what medical workers recommend and what measures can be taken to prevent the spread of the infection, as well as to discuss potential trends," the presidential spokesman explained. According to him, most experts believe that imposing a lockdown was the only right thing to do. The lockdown, in Peskov’s words, is important for breaking the virus chain.
"It is yet to be decided how to pull out [of the lockdown], depending on the situation," Peskov said. He added that experts taking part in the meeting had agreed that the effect of the lockdown would become clear in the second half of next week.
"We can also take other countries’ experience into consideration - including European and Asian countries and the United States - and make decisions based on that," Peskov concluded.