MOSCOW, April 28. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a video conference with heads of Russian regions on Tuesday to discuss novel coronavirus issues.
Although the Kremlin has chosen not to make any predictions on what measures might be announced at the meeting, governors expect anti-coronavirus restrictions to be extended further.
"As far as the presidential level is concerned, a conference on anti-coronavirus efforts with the heads of the Russian administrative regions is being prepared [for April 28]," Kremlin aide Dmitry Peskov told reporters, adding that the heads of all Russian regions will take part in the meeting.
On Monday morning, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said Russia’s government would present to Putin in the near future possible options of changing the restrictive measures based on recommendations of experts.
Peskov, in turn, when asked whether the decision to extend the restrictions might be announced on Tuesday, replied: "Let us wait for the conference and see."
A period of days off has been introduced in Russia due to the pandemic until April 30, with various measures on citizens' self-isolation imposed in the regions for preventing the spread of the infection.
Timeframes discussed
Earlier, Peskov announced that the Russian leader was expected to make new announcements regarding the coronavirus and related restrictions this week. Vologda region governor, Oleg Kuvshinnikov, said on Sunday he expected Putin to extend the coronavirus lockdown measures "at least until May 11" during the video conference with heads of Russian regions on Tuesday. On the same day, Crimean head Sergei Aksyonov said that the president was expected to hear governors’ reports. "Once the head of the state hears out everyone, situation will be assessed and decisions at the federal level will be taken," he said.
In an interview to the Rossiya-24 TV channel, Russia’s chief sanitary official Anna Popova said she would not comment on possible measures, but the proposal to extend the nationwide self-isolation regime until May 12 was "absolutely justified."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said decisions would be made based on the current trend or on some short-term forecasts." Middle-term or the long-term forecasts are hardly possible. Therefore, giving some timeframes now would be like a shot in the dark," he replied when asked for how long the self-isolation regime for Russian citizens could be extended.
He added that the removal of coronavirus-related restrictions will be gradual, but those measures are yet to be worked out.
In an interview with the Argumenty I Fakty daily newspaper, the presidential spokesman suggested that Russia was expected to reach a plateau in new coronavirus cases by mid-May and in June the situation will improve. In "a couple of months" the current hardships over the coronavirus will fade away, Peskov said. "It seems to me that all this won’t last longer," he said, adding that in Italy and Spain the critical phase of the epidemic continued a month and a half at maximum.
Recommendations for holidays
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, jointly with the head of Russia’s sanitary watchdog, Anna Popova, met with leading epidemiologists and virologists on April 24. According to Golikova, the proposed measures and strategies will be reported to the Russian president.
Late last week, the Russian prime minister tasked the health ministry and other governmental bodies with preparing recommendations for Russian citizens about the need to observe all precautions throughout the upcoming May holidays.
Anna Popova voiced hope that the country could avoid a peak in coronavirus infections provided that citizens fully comply with the restrictions during the upcoming May holidays.
"I hope very much and we are on this track that we won’t see any peak. A peak is an explosion and we don’t have any explosion here. This was one of the goals that we had set, and today we see that it is being fulfilled. If only we don’t fail during the holidays. Today this is a major risk. This would bring us back to the point which we have passed," Popova, who heads the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, told the 'Moscow. Kremlin. Putin' program on the Rossiya-1 channel.
In turn, Golikova said it was important to look at possible easing of the lockdown measures because people had grown tired of the restrictions. At the same time, "it is important to explain to our citizens that the lifting of the restrictive measures depends on each one of us, on how we observe epidemiologists’ recommendations, how strictly we obey by the preventive measures," she said.
Yuri Lobzin, director of the research and clinical center for children’s infectious diseases of the Russian Medical Biological Agency, said on Sunday it would be expedient to extend the coronavirus lockdown regime till May 12.
Alexander Semyonov, deputy director of St. Petersburg’s research institute of epidemiology and microbiology of Russia’s Federal Consumer Rights Oversight Service, said it would make sense to extend the restrictions for the duration of a yet another incubation period of the novel coronavirus, which is about two weeks. A detailed roadmap for gradual lifting of the coronavirus lockdown measures in Russia is being agreed and will soon be announced, he added.