“The situation with the coronavirus in Moscow (Москва́) remains extremely difficult,” Mayor of Moscow (Мэр Москвы́) Sergei Sobyanin told reporters. He also mentioned that the city set new records for hospitalization and intensive care patients over the past week.

Moscow and St. Petersburg (Санкт-Петербу́рг) recorded the largest number of cases compared to any region of Russia during the pandemic. The main reason for this was the spread of the Indian coronavirus mutation (мутация) “Delta.”

Photo by Maksim Goncharenok from Pexels

Get A Vaccine – Win A Car

By today, many Russian regions introduced mandatory (обяза́тельный) vaccinations (приви́вки) for certain sectors employees. Thus, healthcare (здравоохране́ние), government (прави́тельство), education (образова́ние), and some other organization workers must be vaccinated. Today, Putin announced that he got the Sputnik V (Спутник V) shot (укол). He also stated that he does not support mandatory vaccination against coronavirus. Also, read about Bota’s experience of getting Sputnik V.

In total, Russia has approved four domestically made vaccines.

Russian Health Minister (Мини́стр здравоохране́ния) Murashko said the country has spent around $14 billion to fight the pandemic.

The government raffles (разы́грывает) apartments (кварти́ры) and cars (автомоби́ли) among the vaccinated people. At the same time, it threatens the unvaccinated (неприви́тый) with dismissals. The other day, Sobyanin said that more than 2 million Muscovites have already received at least one vaccine. However, this is only about 15% of the capital’s population.

In other words, the authorities by all mean both force and motivate the population to take this step.

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QR Codes

The city is trying to protect people, reduce the burden on hospitals, and keep the economy healthy.

Since June 22, a temporary prohibition (запре́т) was introduced on holding concerts (конце́рты) and sports (спорти́вные) events (мероприятия) with the simultaneous presence of more than 500 participants. This restriction (ограниче́ние) applies to both outdoor and indoor entertainment. Simultaneously, dance floors (танцева́льные площа́дки) must be closed regardless of the number of people. In addition, there is no such rule (пра́вило) in “COVID-free” zones. Only participants with QR codes can take part in these events.

From June 28, the QR code check came into force when visiting restaurants, cafes, bars, and public events in Moscow. They only serve customers who have been vaccinated, have had COVID-19 in the past 6 months, or have had a negative (отрица́тельный/негати́вный) PCR test (ПЦР тест) in the previous 72 hours. The test must be done at one of the laboratories from the specific list. It is called the “United Medical Information and Analytical System of Moscow“ (“Еди́ная медици́нская информацио́нно-аналити́ческая систе́ма” OR simply “ЕМИАС“).

To receive the QR code, you must register on certain sites or mobile applications. Fortunately, the authorities promise that this is the most convenient and user-friendly service. It has a simplified (упрощённая) registration (регистра́ция) for a personal account. You only need to enter your first and last name, patronymic, and date of birth.

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Exceptions

However, children and adolescents accompanied by parents or legal representatives (зако́нные представи́тели) will not need such a code. Another exception is for outdoor cafes. They can operate without checking QR codes through July 11. Restrictions also do not apply to hotel catering establishments and educational institutions. Nevertheless, unauthorized people should not have the right to enter such places.

If a person becomes sick with COVID-19, then their QR code may be canceled. Additionally, certificates (сертифика́ты) on paper, except for the printed QR code, are not accepted.

Regardless of whether or not you are vaccinated, stay safe and healthy!