Moscow goes into lockdown: schools, restaurants and non-essential services closed to curb coronavirus

The Moscow authorities today decreed eleven days of paid vacation and the closure of non-essential services from October 28 to November 7 to stop the advance of the coronavirus, which has been setting a record of infections and deaths for more than three weeks.

The measure was announced by the mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobianin, on his blog.

During that period, only essential services such as pharmacies, food stores and those for the sale of other essential goods will be open, he said.

Medical care is maintained, both general and emergency services.

“The work of companies and organizations in the field of commerce, services, gastronomy, sports, culture, leisure, cinemas and others is stopped”, said the mayor.

Restaurants and cafes may offer take-out or delivery.

Mass events or shows will also be prohibited during mandatory holidays, but may have an authorization from the Russian body in charge of consumer protection, Rospotrebnadzor.

The theaters and museums will continue to work, but with the limitation of 50% of the capacity, while the visitors of these must have a QR code that confirms the vaccination and wear masks.

The QR code will become mandatory as of November 8 for any cultural, sporting activity or show attended by more than 500 people.

Schoolchildren will have vacations during these eleven days, and university students will only be able to continue their studies at a distance.

Although the peak levels of more than 9,000 cases of covid-19 which were registered in June of this year, the mayor found that “the situation in Moscow is developing according to the worst case scenario.”

“In the next few days we will reach the historical maximums of contagions of covid-19”He pointed out, after 7,897 new cases were detected in the last 24 hours.

In addition, Sobianin announced that after the forced holidays, the social transport cards of people over 60 and those with chronic diseases will be blocked to limit travel.

However, he noted that those who are vaccinated will be able to unlock their cards after being inoculated with at least the first dose of an anticovid vaccine.

Previously, the mayor announced the return to teleworking of at least 30% of workers not vaccinated against the coronavirus and of those who have not had the disease, and the self-isolation of those over 60 years of age until next February.

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