MOSCOW, March 30. /TASS/. Moscow authorities decided to introduce additional restrictive measures amid the coronavirus spread, because some 20% of the city residents effectively ignored the calls for self-isolation, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said during the сoronavirus сoordination сouncil board meeting.
"Even in Moscow [alone], we see that some 20% gave [earlier] measures a chilly reception; so, following consultations with the country’s authorities, we made additional decisions to switch not only the risk groups, but all people not involved in [critical] production or government services and other offices to the self-isolation regime," the mayor said.
The non-working week that began in Russia on Monday and will continue until April 3, will allow to radically tighten the self-isolation measures, Sergei Sobyanin stated. "The measures taken on the federal level, including the non-working week, allowed us to radically tighten the self-isolation measures. We see significant reduction in passenger flow in subway, public transport, commuter trains, both in Moscow and other regions," Sobyanin commented.
He recalled that, by the end of the week, Moscow will deploy a "smart" information system that would track movement of the people and penalize the violators. "This would enable us to almost completely control movement of the people and tackle potential violation. We also expect adoption of the federal law that would authorize us to work on this issue," the mayor added.
On March 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the week between March 30 and April 5 to be non-working over the coronavirus situation. Over the period many Russian regions will temporarily shut down restaurants, cafes, major parks and non-grocery stores. People are urged to stay home or at their dachas (countryside houses), and cut personal contacts to a minimum. The home-stay initiative is supposed to slow down the coronavirus spread.
The coronavirus outbreak was recorded in central China in late December 2019. A total of 199 countries and territories have been hit by this infection, which was labeled as a pandemic by the World Health Organization in March 2020. According to the latest data, over 724,000 people have contracted the virus, and more than 34,000 have died.