The Novgorod Region extends the non-working days. The interlocutors of Kommersant FM do not exclude that other regions will follow the example. The fact is that the incidence continues to grow almost throughout the country. And one week will not be enough to turn the tide, said the head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova. Nevertheless, in the Moscow headquarters last week they assured that the restrictions would be in effect until November 8. According to media reports, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin also spoke out against extending non-working days, explaining this as damage to the economy. What anti-coronavirus measures could be after November 7? Found out by Alexander Mezentsev.
In late October, when President Vladimir Putin approved the non-working day regime, he stressed that the measures could be extended beyond November 7, if necessary. The first region that decided on this was the Novgorod region. There, the weekend for many citizens will end on November 14. Governor Andrei Nikitin said that so far there is no turning point in the situation with the coronavirus, and promised to tighten restrictions. However, the partial lockdown in the region bears little resemblance to the metropolitan one. Mass events are prohibited, but you can visit restaurants or beauty salons with a QR code. The authorities are closely monitoring this, said Anthony Kish, editor-in-chief of the Novgorod Portal online publication:
“Employees must also have QR codes. More than 200 protocols were drawn up against entrepreneurs about an administrative offense, namely about violation of the mechanism of codes. And the governor said: “Those who have such violations will simply be closed until the end of the lockdown.”
According to the head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova, the holidays can only complicate the situation, and the lull with the beginning of working days will be replaced by another outbreak. The incidence continues to grow in 78 regions, a decrease is recorded only in Kalmykia and Karelia, Popova concluded.
The interlocutors of Kommersant FM are also sure that a week will not be enough to change the situation – at least three is needed. However, this can be business sensitive. The enterprises hope that after November 7 they will be allowed to work with QR codes. At the same time, the authorities are unlikely to dare to tighten measures for the unvaccinated, suggests Mikhail Vinogradov, president of the Petersburg Politics Foundation:
“As it stands, the lockdown does little to encourage vaccination. It does not discriminate against the unvaccinated, either in a harsh or milder form. Probably, it would be logical to have a partial extension, some kind of amnesty for those who are vaccinated, have QR codes, by admission, starting from restaurants. And, perhaps, for toughening for those who did not give the injection. But it is still difficult to imagine that the authorities are generally ready for this ”.
Vaccination campaign statistics for October 25-29
The three Russian regions, leaders in terms of the proportion of vaccinated population, have remained the same since last week. The first place is occupied by the Belgorod region, 52.8% of the population (817.2 thousand people) are vaccinated in the region. In second place is the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug (51.3%, or 26 thousand people), in third place is the Moscow Region (49.4%, or 3.8 million people).
The leaders in terms of the number of vaccinated are Moscow (5.3 million), Moscow region (3.8 million), Krasnodar Territory (2.1 million), St. Petersburg (2 million) and Rostov region (1.6 million).
The interlocutors of Kommersant FM suggest that there may be another option: the extension of non-working days with the support of the business. True, entrepreneurs themselves look at this with distrust: many remember the first lockdown, when not everyone received help, or it was not enough. Scientific research of the main channels of infection could help fight the epidemic, says Nikolai Prokhorenko, first vice-rector of the Higher School of Health Organization and Management. He speculated about measures that could be effective from an epidemiological point of view:
“The introduction of some short-term restrictions is rather a kind of screen. Yes, somewhere someone will contact less. These seven days, of course, will not have a real impact on the epidemic. Need more. The most optimal would be the introduction of QR codes in public transport, the termination of all types of gathering of people, except for outdoor activities, and appropriate measures for routing patients in all medical organizations, so that in no case the paths of potentially healthy people do not intersect with those who are known to be sick or suspicious. “
Melita Vujnovich, the representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Russia, said that the effectiveness of non-working days in the country will depend on how seriously the population takes the measures. And given that many decided to spend the unscheduled weekend on vacation, there is little hope for this.
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