MOSCOW, April 16./TASS/. Residents of Moscow are repeatedly being caught breaking self-isolation rules, the head of the city’s chief control directorate, Yevgeny Danchikov, told Rossiya-24 television on Thursday.
"Regretfully, the situation is not improving so far. Our citizens continue leaving their homes, going to playgrounds, walking in the parks and having barbecues in the open," he said. "I hope that yesterday’s and today’s weather is discouraging for walks, and this will help the citizens stay at home," Danchikov said.
He said that about 12,000 protocols over the violation of self-isolation rules worth overall about 50 million rubles ($674,500) have been drawn up in Moscow since the weekend, with about 2,000 drawn up alone on Thursday.
"If we take the period from this past weekend, when police officers began to not only actively patrol the streets, but also take administrative action against those who violate the self-isolation rules, we have for now about 12,000 protocols drawn up by police officers, to the tune of 50 million rubles," he said.
On Thursday, the anti-coronavirus crisis center reported 1,370 new coronavirus cases in Moscow in the past 24 hours. Overall, more than 16,000 people have been infected with COVID-19 in the capital city.
On March 29, Mayor of Moscow Sergei Sobyanin and Moscow Region Governor Andrei Vorobyev issued decrees extending the high coronavirus alert regime. Thus, self-isolation requirements were extended to all people regardless of their age. People are required to stay at home and can go outside only for emergency medical assistance, to work, to visit a nearest food store, to dispose of garbage and to walk a dog within 100 meters from the house. All stores, except groceries, pharmacies, essentials stores and animal feed ones, are closed, as well theaters, restaurants, cafes and other public places, including parks. All mass events are banned.
Breach of the self-isolation regime is penalized with a fine up to 5,000 rubles.
To date, a total of 27,938 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 2,304 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 232 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.