Restrictions in Moscow as Russia sees record 1,015 daily coronavirus deaths

Russia has reimposed lockdown restrictions in Moscow and begged its citizens to get vaccinated as the country today saw a record daily toll toll of 1,015 Covid deaths.

Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin ordered elderly residents to stay home for four months and told businesses that 30 per cent of staff must work from home.

The total number of cases has topped 8 million, more than 5 per cent of the population, with another 33,740 new infections on Tuesday, just shy of a record daily rise. 

The Kremlin urged people again to get jabbed amid colossal pressure on the country’s underfunded healthcare system. 

The Orlovsky region, around 200 miles south of Moscow, had run out of hospital beds, according to Governor Andrei Klychkov.

Medical specialists transport a patient outside a hospital for people infected with the coronavirus in Moscow last Wednesday

Russia has reimposed lockdown restrictions in Moscow and begged its citizens to get vaccinated as the country today saw a record daily toll toll of 1,015 Covid deaths

Russia has reimposed lockdown restrictions in Moscow and begged its citizens to get vaccinated as the country today saw a record daily toll toll of 1,015 Covid deaths

The total number of cases has topped 8 million, more than 5 per cent of the population, with another 33,740 new infections on Tuesday, just shy of a record daily rise

The total number of cases has topped 8 million, more than 5 per cent of the population, with another 33,740 new infections on Tuesday, just shy of a record daily rise

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters: ‘There is a tradition of blaming the state for everything. Of course, the state feels and knows its share of responsibility.

‘But a more responsible position is needed from all citizens of our country,’ he said. ‘Now each of us must show responsibility … and get vaccinated.’

The government proposed introducing a single non-working week to battle surging coronavirus cases as the country registered a new record number of daily deaths. 

Many Russian regions plan to keep cafes, museums and other public venues open only to those who have recently recovered from COVID-19 or have proof of inoculation with a Russian vaccine or a negative coronavirus test.   

The surge has come without any strict restrictions to limit Covid-19’s spread, although several regions have re-introduced QR codes for access to public places. 

Officials have been accused of downplaying the severity of the pandemic, and figures published by statistics agency Rosstat in October showed more than 400,000 people had died in Russia as a result of coronavirus.

At a meeting on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova called for the introduction of a non-working week starting from October 30 to curb the spread of the virus.

She proposed that the hardest-hit regions introduce such a measure from this Saturday.

‘The solutions we are proposing are very difficult,’ Golikova told Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.

‘But we ask you to support these proposals and appeal to the head of state.’

Golikova is due to submit her proposal to President Vladimir Putin for approval during a meeting on Wednesday.

Russia has struggled to inoculate its citizens despite domestic vaccines including Sputnik being widely available.

An employee of the Federal State Center for Special Risk Rescue Operations of Russia Emergency Situations disinfects Leningradsky railway station in Moscow on Tuesday

An employee of the Federal State Center for Special Risk Rescue Operations of Russia Emergency Situations disinfects Leningradsky railway station in Moscow on Tuesday

An officer checks a young woman's compliance with Covid rules in Moscow on Tuesday

An officer checks a young woman’s compliance with Covid rules in Moscow on Tuesday

Only 35 percent of Russians are fully vaccinated, despite pleas from Putin.

The president insists that Russia has handled the pandemic better than most countries, but even top officials have recently voiced concern.

Pyotr Tolstoy, deputy chairman of the lower house, said at the weekend that authorities had ‘completely lost’ an information campaign on coronavirus.

‘There is no trust in people to go and vaccinate themselves, it is a fact,’ he said.

Putin’s spokesman on Tuesday urged Russians to be ‘more responsible’ and admitted that the government could have done more to explain the ‘lack of alternative to vaccines’.

‘There is a tradition to blame everything on the state,’ Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

‘But at the same time, we need a more responsible position from citizens of our country.’

Western vaccines are not available in Russia, and Peskov insisted that bringing them into the country would not help the sluggish vaccination rates.

‘The vaccinophobia of some citizens is not linked to the brand of vaccines,’ he said.

Independent polls show that more than half of Russians do not plan to get a shot.

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