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Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a televised address to the nation on the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, on the outskirts of Moscow, Russia, on May 11, 2020. Sputnik / Aleksey Nikolskyi / Kremlin via REUTERS
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Factory and construction workers in Russia were slated to return to work on Tuesday after President Vladimir Putin ordered a gradual reduction in coronavirus blockade measures despite a sharp increase in new cases of the new virus.
Putin, in a surprise announcement Monday, said it was time after six weeks of lifting the national restrictions that had forced many people to work from their homes and businesses to temporarily shut down.
He made the announcement on the day that Russia overtook Italy to become the country with the fourth highest number of cases in the world, according to Johns Hopkins University in the United States.
Although he gave Russia’s regions ample leeway to ease or tighten restrictions as they see fit, he said it made sense that certain sectors of the battered economy, such as construction and heavy industry, could restart work starting Tuesday.
Most Russian regions have been blocked since late March in an attempt to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The total number of cases rose to 232,243 on Tuesday with 2,116 deaths.
Other countries have yet to update their own accounts, but Russia is likely to rise further in the ranking of countries with the highest number of infections later Tuesday.
Reports by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber, Gleb Stolyarov and Alexander Marrow; Editing by Andrew Osborn
