Russian regions extend stay-at-home week to curb coronavirus

Russian regions announced Wednesday they are extending a stay-at-home order by the national government in an attempt to curb an increase in coronavirus cases. 

Five regions said they will be extending an order telling most citizens not to go to work as Russia broke its daily coronavirus case and death record multiple times in October, Reuters reported. 

“The tense epidemiological situation forces us to extend the period of non-working days by another week,” governor for the Tomsk region Sergei Zhvachkin said. “One non-working week is not enough to stop the chain of infection.”

When Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the stay-at-home week starting Oct. 30, he said regional politicians would be allowed to extend it in areas hit harder by the virus.

More than a quarter of businesses were in violation of Putin’s order during the stay-at-home week, according to a Moscow health consumer watchdog, Reuters noted. 

Along with the extension of the stay-at-home period, some regions will be adding more COVID-19 measures such as vaccine passes to get into certain venues. 

The region of Kamchatka will be requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination or recent recovery from an infection in order to use public transportation, according to Reuters. Other regions will use proof of vaccination for museums and malls. 

Moscow has decided to reopen businesses after the stay-at-home week, saying cases have stabilized enough to reopen.

Measures such as 30 percent of a company’s workforce must stay at home will stay in place,  Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said, according to RIA news agency.

“The spread of the disease has stabilised in terms of its detection and its severe forms requiring hospitalisation,” Sobyanin said.

Russia currently only has 33 percent of its population fully vaccinated, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. 

“There are only two ways to get over this period — to get sick or to receive a vaccine,” Putin said last month. “It’s better to get the vaccine, why wait for the illness and it’s grave consequences? Please be responsible and take the necessary measures to protect yourself, your health and your close ones.”