A non-working week was declared in Russia as the death toll from the coronavirus continuing to soar.
President Vladimir V. Putin declared that a seven-day period starting Oct. 30 would be a non-working week in the country.
The measure is intended to combat the rapid spread of the virus in Russia, where known deaths from Covid-19 have recently climbed above 1,000 a day.
The Kremlin has hesitated to impose unpopular restrictions because of economic fears and widespread public nonchalance about the pandemic.
The “non-working week” is a new and vaguely defined concept created after the onset of the pandemic.
It is not a full lockdown; instead, nonessential workers are encouraged to stay home, while their employers are encouraged to pay them at least the minimum wage to do so.
Russia has reported more than 1,000 daily COVID-related deaths for the first time since the start of the pandemic.
An official government tally on Saturday reported 1,002 deaths and 33,208 new infections.
The source pointed out to a pandemic high for both fatalities and cases for the third day in a row.
According to the source, the lack of tough restrictions has allowed the coronavirus to spread.
The new record came while the country suffers lagging vaccination rates.
However, the authorities refused to impose a new national lockdown.
Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said 11 percent of Russia’s 235,000 hospitalised COVID-19 patients were in serious or critical condition.
Overall, Russia’s coronavirus task force has registered more than 7.8 million confirmed cases and 218,345 deaths. The numbers are the highest death toll in Europe.
Yet the state statistics agency Rosstat has reported a much higher total – about 418,000 deaths of people with COVID-19.
Russia has blamed the sharp rise in infections and deaths that began last month on a slow vaccination rate.
