Putin approves first steps for Russia to loosen coronavirus lockdown, warns regional governors to tread carefully
Russia will begin to partially lift its Covid-19 lockdown from May 12 when restrictions on industrial and construction businesses are removed, Sergey Sobyanin announced during a government meeting chaired by Vladimir Putin.
The Moscow mayor, who also heads the national effort to fight coronavirus, told the video conference that the self-isolation regime in the capital will not be relaxed until the spread of infection there is under control. Moscow, together with its surrounding region, is home to just under two-thirds of Russia’s Covid-19 cases.
However, as the rest of the country has fared better, Putin instructed regional leaders to develop timetables to implement the process, warning them to be careful to avoid risking a second wave of infection. “In some places tough, [but] justified preventive measures will need to be maintained or even supplemented. And in others, perhaps, there will be different levels of severity,” he observed. “You can’t steam ahead with undue haste, because any negligence can bring a rollback and the price of the slightest mistake is the safety, lives, and health of our people.”
The president said the policies of Russian authorities in battling Covid-19 had been successful. “Experience has shown that we have acted absolutely correctly, moreover, many foreign countries have taken the same path, we can see this, and it will be good if they also succeed,” he opined.
Putin revealed that Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin is recovering from his brush with coronavirus. “He's on the mend, Everything is normal,” the president disclosed. “He’s still got a temperature, as often happens in such cases, but he is recovering.” He added that Mishustin is still working and helping with the preparation of all policy decisions, saying “we are in touch with him every day.”
Belousov warned that Russia’s economic health is also beginning to noticeably suffer. “We are now entering a more difficult period from the point of view of the economy,” he noted, admitting that the number of small businesses applying for ‘salary loans’ to pay their workers has exceeded the government's expectations.
Minister for Labor Anton Kotyakov told his colleagues that 735,000 Russians had joined the unemployment register in the past two months, bringing the national total to 1.2 million out of work. Yet, this doesn’t tell the full story as many Russians earn their living in the informal economy, which amounts to over 30 percent of GDP according to the IMF, and their status isn’t recorded in official statistics. Kotyakov has previously warned that the economic recession caused by Covid-19 could leave between five and six million Russians unemployed, or seven to eight percent of the workforce. Such figures were last seen a decade ago, following the Great Financial Crash.
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The Moscow mayor, who also heads the national effort to fight coronavirus, told the video conference that the self-isolation regime in the capital will not be relaxed until the spread of infection there is under control. Moscow, together with its surrounding region, is home to just under two-thirds of Russia’s Covid-19 cases.
However, as the rest of the country has fared better, Putin instructed regional leaders to develop timetables to implement the process, warning them to be careful to avoid risking a second wave of infection. “In some places tough, [but] justified preventive measures will need to be maintained or even supplemented. And in others, perhaps, there will be different levels of severity,” he observed. “You can’t steam ahead with undue haste, because any negligence can bring a rollback and the price of the slightest mistake is the safety, lives, and health of our people.”
The president said the policies of Russian authorities in battling Covid-19 had been successful. “Experience has shown that we have acted absolutely correctly, moreover, many foreign countries have taken the same path, we can see this, and it will be good if they also succeed,” he opined.
Putin revealed that Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin is recovering from his brush with coronavirus. “He's on the mend, Everything is normal,” the president disclosed. “He’s still got a temperature, as often happens in such cases, but he is recovering.” He added that Mishustin is still working and helping with the preparation of all policy decisions, saying “we are in touch with him every day.”
Belousov warned that Russia’s economic health is also beginning to noticeably suffer. “We are now entering a more difficult period from the point of view of the economy,” he noted, admitting that the number of small businesses applying for ‘salary loans’ to pay their workers has exceeded the government's expectations.
Minister for Labor Anton Kotyakov told his colleagues that 735,000 Russians had joined the unemployment register in the past two months, bringing the national total to 1.2 million out of work. Yet, this doesn’t tell the full story as many Russians earn their living in the informal economy, which amounts to over 30 percent of GDP according to the IMF, and their status isn’t recorded in official statistics. Kotyakov has previously warned that the economic recession caused by Covid-19 could leave between five and six million Russians unemployed, or seven to eight percent of the workforce. Such figures were last seen a decade ago, following the Great Financial Crash.
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