MOSCOW, October 21. /TASS/. The authorities of Moscow and the Moscow region announced a period of non-working days from October 28 to November 7 due to the worsening of the situation with the coronavirus. The city mayor Sergey Sobyanin and the region’s governor Andrey Vorobyov issued the decrees to that effect on Thursday.
From October 28 to November 7, cafes and restaurants, shopping malls and non-food stores, as well as service firms will be closed in the city and the region, and schoolchildren will be on vacation.
"Long weekend"
From October 28 to November 7 inclusive, Moscow and the Moscow region will have a period of non-working days. It is two days longer than the non-working period declared in the rest of Russia’s regions.
Restaurants and cafes will be closed in Moscow (during the same period of restrictions in June they were not allowed to work only at night). The vast majority of stores will be closed as well, except for food stores selling essential goods and pharmacies, as well as service organizations. A similar decision was made in the Moscow region.
During the non-working days, the city and the region will not provide public services in multifunctional centers and government buildings. Electronic services will continue to be available.
Schoolchildren in Moscow and the Moscow region will also go on vacation from October 28. This is two days earlier than recommended by the Education Ministry. Universities and secondary vocational educational institutions of the capital will be able to work only remotely. The city authorities have announced vacations for kindergartens and additional education organizations.
QR codes
From October 28, QR codes will be required in Moscow and the region to visit theaters and museums. During the non-working days they will continue to work, but their attendance will be limited to 50% of maximum capacity. From November 8, the allowed attendance will increase to 70%.
From November 8, QR codes will be required in Moscow to visit any mass cultural and entertainment event involving more than 500 people.
In the Moscow region, the maximum number of participants without QR codes for such events will be halved - from 100 to 50 in buildings and from 1,000 to 500 in the open air.
Working from home
On Tuesday, the Moscow Mayor ruled that from October 25 to February 25, the city organizations should transfer at least 30% of their employees (excluding those vaccinated, recovered from illness, doctors and employees of a number of strategically important industries) to work remotely.
The Mayor also ordered Muscovites over 60 years old and those who suffer from many chronic diseases to switch to the so-called home regime for four months starting from October 25. This requirement does not apply to those who have been ill or have been vaccinated within the last six months.
From November 8, the "home regime" will be tightened - social cards of people from risk groups who have not been vaccinated or who have not been ill will be blocked.
Although no "home regime" has been officially introduced in the region, the authorities also obliged local organizations to transfer part of their employees to remote work. Also, from November 8, the social cards of people from risk groups will be blocked.
Situation with COVID
A few weeks ago, the situation with the coronavirus in Moscow began to worsen again after a relatively calm period in the second half of summer and early autumn.
On Thursday, the federal operational headquarters for the fight against coronavirus reported 7,897 cases of infection registered in Moscow per day, which was the highest figure since June 26. During the day, the city recorded 77 deaths due to the coronavirus, which is the highest number since August 1. This is close to the peak of the summer outbreak when the number of infections in the capital exceeded 9,000 per day and the number of deaths was 100.
In the Moscow region, the incidence has recently reached a record figure. On October 19, the headquarters reported 2,955 cases per day, which was the largest level for the region for the entire pandemic.