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Employees of the Russian Civil Protection Agency disinfect the Leningrad train station in Moscow
Photo: Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr / dpa
All over Russia, the number of daily corona infections and corona deaths has been rising rapidly again for some time. In the capital, Moscow, the situation is by far the worst. Mayor Sergej Sobyanin has now announced that from October 28 to November 7, all shops, businesses and services that are not necessary for basic services will have to close. Only the sale of medicines, food and other essential goods is not affected, said Sobjanin on Thursday. It was only on Tuesday that he imposed corona restrictions for the first time since the summer.
On Thursday, Russia again set a negative record for new deaths and infections: According to the authorities, more than 36,000 people were infected with the coronavirus within one day, 1,036 died of Covid-19.
The high number of infections in Russia is also due to the low nationwide vaccination rate of around 35 percent.
As a result, President Vladimir Putin declared "days off" on Wednesday from October 30th to November 7th.
During this phase, Putin will only take part in events or other appointments via video conference, said his spokesman Dmitri Peskov.
Restaurants and dance schools have to close
Moscow mayor Sobyanin says he wants to do everything possible to "break as many chains of infection as possible in a short time."
He can say from experience that "days off" are particularly effective.
According to Sobjanin, restaurants, beauty salons, clothing and furniture stores, sports halls and dance schools and other shops and services have to close completely, theaters and museums have to halve their number of visitors and require a health passport.
From November 8th, the health pass will also be compulsory for all events in Moscow with more than 500 visitors.
lau / AFP
