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Coronavirus pandemic

Moscow officials may shut down restaurants, shopping centers, parks, says mayor

President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Wednesday establishing March 30 - April 3 paid days-off across the country in order to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus

MOSCOW, March 25. /TASS/. Moscow officials may decide to shut down restaurants, big shopping centers and central parks in the Russian capital. The Moscow government plans to announce those measures on March 26, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Wednesday.

"We need to think about the additional measures that will be implemented in those days. I hope that we will talk about these measures tomorrow in detail, however, I can say right now that they will apply to restaurants, cafes, big shopping centers, excluding supermarkets, <…> central parks," Sobyanin said on the TV Center channel.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Wednesday establishing March 30 - April 3, 2020 paid days-off across the country in order to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Earlier on Wednesday, officials informed that the total number of those infected with COVID-19 in Moscow had reached 410, rising by 120 in the past 24 hours. The number of those recovered has risen to 15.

In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) have been reported in more than 150 countries, including Russia.

On March 11, WHO declared the outbreak of COVID-19 a global pandemic. As of now, over 410,000 people have been infected around the world and more than 18,000 have died. Russia has identified 658 cases of the virus. The Russian government has launched an online hotline to keep the country’s people informed about the coronavirus situation.

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Top stories from the Russian press on Wednesday, April 24th

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