To limit the spread of the coronavirus, Moscow closed shops, schools and restaurants for 11 days on Thursday.
Providers considered insignificant, including retail outlets, restaurants, and sports and entertainment venues, will be closed until November 7. Until then, schools and kindergartens will also be closed.
Only those stores that sell food, medicines and other basic goods will continue to operate.
Russia is one of the worst affected countries in the world by the pandemic, but the authorities have refrained from imposing the strict quarantine regimes adopted by several Western countries.
The government of Russian President Vladimir Putin had high hopes for the domestic Covid-19 vaccine “Sputnik V”, but the Russians are in no hurry to get vaccinated.
By October 27, only 32% of the Russian population had been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, according to estimates by the website “Gogov”.
To curb social contacts, Putin last week announced paid holidays from October 30 to November 7, and the Moscow authorities followed suit by closing down non-essential institutions from Thursday.
Traffic on the roads in Moscow this morning was slightly lower than on other mornings, but the Moscow metro was full of people as usual and many passengers did not have face masks.
Authorities have not required people to stay home during the holidays, and many plan to use these days to travel around Russia and go abroad.
The mayor of Sochi has warned of a large influx of tourists, and the demand for flights to Egypt and Turkey has increased in Russia.
In Russia on Wednesday were registered 1123 Covid-19 cause of death, which is a new daily record. Since the beginning of the pandemic in Russia recorded 233,898 Covid-19 deaths.
More than 8.3 million cases of Covid-19 have been officially registered in Russia since the start of the pandemic, but experts believe that the true number of cases is much higher.
Russia’s statistical office Rosstat said in October that they estimated more than 400,000 people had died from Covid-19.
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