Update – 16.04.2020

April 16, 2020

On Thursday (April 16^th), Russia recorded 3,448 new cases of coronavirus in 78 Russian regions, raising the official number of positive results to 27,938, with 232 dead. The majority of new COVID-19 cases (1,370) were registered in Moscow, bringing the total number of Muscovites with confirmed COVID-19 to 16,146. In the meantime, a total of 2304 Russian patients are known to have recovered from coronavirus.

“As of 15.04.2020, over 1.5 mln laboratory tests for the novel coronavirus have been carried out, using the samples from people, including those who arrived from the countries affected by the novel coronavirus infection. Russia is ranked second in the world for the total number of tests for the novel coronavirus,” the country’s sanitary watchdog, the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, said on Wednesday.

On Friday (April 10^th), Moscow Mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, announced additional lockdown measures from April 13-19 in order to slow the spread of the coronavirus, with all nonessential business and activity suspended. Grocery stores and pharmacies will stay open, and only the government, hospitals, protective gear manufacturers and the defence sector will continue to work. All construction and maintenance work is suspended, as are car-sharing services.

On Saturday (April 11^th), Sobyanin introduced a digital permit system for trips by a vehicle this week, after voluntary restrictions failed to curb travel and keep people off the streets. As from Wednesday (April 15^th), anyone using a car or public transport in Moscow or the surrounding region must have a digital pass, Sobyanin said in a statement.

The number of coronavirus cases detected in Russia that cause no changes to the carrier’s health is on the rise, federal public health chief, Anna Popova, said on Wednesday (April 15^th) in an interview with Channel One. According to Popova, in early March, only 10% of those who tested positive for COVID-19 did not experience symptoms. Now, following further testing, that figure is almost 30% on a nationwide scale. In some regions, more than a third of confirmed cases do not carry symptoms.

Russian tour operators have started to offer free postponement of tours that did not take place due to COVID-19, allowing for rescheduling later. The first companies to begin doing so include Intourist, Coral Travel, Sunmar and TUI. The initiative is highly appreciated by both trade and direct clients as reported by the Russian Association of Russian tour operators (ATOR).

The occupancy of Russian hotels reaches 3-5%, as reported during the Roscongress Foundation conference.

Russian tour operators assume that domestic tourism will start to recover from the COVID-19 lockdown in July-August, whereas international tourism will resume operations in September at the earliest, as reported by the Russian Association of Tour Operators.

Sources:

Who we are