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MOSCOW (Reuters) – Bars, clubs and restaurants in Moscow face two months of late-night closings to reduce the spread of COVID-19, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Tuesday, as Russia’s daily case count surpassed 20,000.
Authorities have been adamant that no severe lockdown restrictions, such as those seen in the spring, will be introduced, even as infections have soared to record highs daily and the official death toll from the virus has surpassed 31,000.
Russia is already testing two vaccines against the virus and is about to register a third, President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday, adding that all of the country’s vaccines were effective.
Russia is releasing its Sputnik V vaccine for home use despite the fact that late-stage trials are not over yet, and on Monday said it was more than 90% effective, following earlier comments from vaccine developers Pfizer. Inc and BioNTech, who said the same about their experimental COVID-19 vaccine.
“Studies have already shown and confirmed that, firstly, these vaccines are safe and have no serious side effects after use, and secondly, they are all effective,” Putin said via video conference at a summit meeting. of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). the RIA news agency reported.
The efficacy of the Russian vaccine was based on data collected from vaccines from the public, rather than an ongoing trial.
Putin also said that Moscow was ready to cooperate on coronavirus vaccines with other countries.
Moscow Mayor Sobyanin said entertainment venues, including restaurants, bars and nightclubs, will be banned from serving customers between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. from November 13 to January 15, and a member from his office warned that raids would be carried out and fines would be imposed. those who do not comply.
Educational institutions, theaters and sports venues would also face tighter restrictions, he said.
College and university students would switch to online learning, while other school-age children, who were already learning from home, were recommended to keep city travel to a minimum.
“Additional restrictions are required to, as far as possible, break the chains of transmission of the virus and reduce the level of infection,” Sobyanin said, writing on his personal website.
Russia reported 20,977 new coronavirus infections and 368 deaths on Tuesday. At 1,817,109, its overall case count is the fifth-largest in the world, behind the United States, India, Brazil, and France.
(Reporting by Maria Kiselyova, Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber, and Alexander Marrow; written by Alexander Marrow; edited by William Maclean and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
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