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Coronavirus pandemic

Over 700,000 people vaccinated against coronavirus in Moscow - Deputy Mayor

According to Rakova, the authorities have provided people with many opportunities to choose the place of vaccination

MOSCOW, March 8. /TASS/. More than 700,000 residents of Moscow have been vaccinated against coronavirus, Deputy Mayor of the capital Anastasia Rakova announced on Monday.

"Vaccination is going very well, more than 700,000 people have been vaccinated since the beginning of the campaign, 10,000 - 15,000 people are vaccinated every day," Rakova said, noting that there are always free slots at vaccination points.

According to Rakova, the authorities have provided people with many opportunities to choose the place of vaccination. She stressed that vaccination stations have been opened in shopping centers in order to meet the demand of Moscow residents, especially those who do not want to go to clinics.

New rise

An increase in coronavirus incidence in Moscow is possible, but the city is ready for any development of the situation, Rakova announced.

"We generally do not make forecasts for either the first, or the second, or the third wave. I understand that today we are ready for any scenario," she said. "An increase in the incidence is possible, but I really hope it will not be the same [as in 2020]," Rakova added.

Rakova stressed that the Moscow authorities last year took many unusual and decisive measures. "The most difficult thing was to make these decisions [not] based on how the situation looks at one moment or another, but based on the future scenario, no matter how unrealistic it may seem at that moment. This was the main thing that we did," she noted.

Labor market

The labor market in Moscow was hit hard in 2020 by the pandemic, and the unemployment rate in mid to late October last year was already at 3%, Rakova said.

"It is clear that in the context of the pandemic, fields that employ a large number of people on the market, have suffered - this includes the service sector. In our country, unemployment was already 3% in mid-October," Rakova said in an interview with Rossiya 24 TV channel. She noted that before the pandemic, the city had a dynamic labor market, and the registered unemployment rate was generally approached zero, staying at 0.4%.

At present, Rakova continued, the unemployment rate is falling again and is already at 0.8-0.9%.

Rakova said that over the entire period of the pandemic, the city employment services, together with various commercial structures dealing with the labor market, managed to find new jobs for 178,000 residents of Moscow.

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