Update – 17.09.2020

September 17, 2020

On Thursday September 17^th, Russia recorded 5,762 new cases of coronavirus in 83 Russian regions, raising the official number of positive results to 1,085,281, with 19,061 fatalities. Most of the new COVID-19 cases (730) were registered in Moscow, raising the total number of Muscovites with confirmed COVID-19 to 274,003. In the meantime, a total number of 895,868 Russian patients are known to have recovered from the virus. WHO’s official representative in the Russian Federation, Melita Vujnovich, said «The of stabilization of the spread of coronavirus in the Russian Federation could not be achieved without the active participation and general actions of the population».

Almost half of Russian respondents (45.6%) do not wish to be vaccinated against coronavirus regardless of its origin, according to a study conducted by the Directorate for Expert and Analytical Work of the Higher School of Economics (NRU HSE). 24.6% of those not ready for vaccination still intend to monitor the results to learn how effective and safe the vaccine will be, while the remaining 25% do not support any vaccinations.

«Moscow’s economy, in comparison to western economies, has better withstood the impact of the pandemic: in just 2 months it has almost bounced back to last year’s levels», stated Moscow’s Mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, on September 6^th.

On September 9^th, Aeroflot resumed flights from Russia to Cairo, Egypt. On September 11^th, Emirates airlines resumed passenger services from Dubai to Moscow Domodedovo Airport (DME), with two flights per week.

Mastercard has analyzed expenditures for travel and entertainment outside of its client’s residential areas during Covid-19 summer months. Russia, Italy and France were the fastest in terms of expenditure volume recovery. According to the results of the study, in July 2020 Russians increased their spending on recreation by almost 70% compared to the same period last year.

Over 80% of Russian tourists have not been on summer vacation this year. These are the results of NAFI analytical center research, held among 1600 residents from different Russian regions. The majority of respondents are based in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg, where individuals are used to travelling abroad and are not ready to take holidays within Russia.

On September 10^th, the Russian government announced the following budget allocations: 2 billion rubles in payment to social workers fighting the spread of coronavirus, and 35 billion rubles to support citizens who have lost their jobs. On September 14^th, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin added that incentive payments to physicians would be extended until the end of September.

On Thursday, September 17^th, Kazakhstan recorded 72 new cases of coronavirus, raising the official number of positive cases to 107,056, with 1,671 fatalities.

Several amendments have been made to the quarantine decree of August 15^th, 2020, due to the country’s improved epidemiological situation. From September 16^th, the number of visitors permitted in outdoor and indoor cafes and restaurants increased to 50 people. Open-air cinemas and catering facilities located on the premises of shopping and entertainment centers with no more than 50 seats also received permits to open. Government agencies, national companies, and other organizations will be operating with 50% capacity. Wearing face masks in public places and social distancing is obligatory.

Sunday Airlines resumed flights from Kazakhstan to Egypt. Flights Nur-Sultan – Sharm El Sheikh and Almaty – Sharm El Sheikh will operate twice a week. It is planned that direct flights on the Shymkent – Sharm El Sheikh and Kostanay – Sharm El Sheikh route will resume in October.

According to the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, as of the morning of September 17^th, 3584 new cases of coronavirus infection were recorded in the country, marking an all-time high in Ukraine. The total number of officially recorded cases in the country currently stands at 166,244.

On September 7^th, Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmitry Kuleba, announced that Ukrainians are allowed to visit Brazil, the Dominican Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo. At the same time, it is unknown when air traffic will be resumed between the countries. Currently, 48 countries remain open – or open with some restrictions – to Ukrainian citizens.

According to the research conducted by the “Rating” sociological group, 46% of Ukrainian citizens believe that the government should reintroduce strict quarantine in case of a coronavirus “second wave”. Another 47% are against strict quarantine. 51% of respondents believe that the “second wave” will happen in the fall-winter of 2020, 38% do not expect it to come, and 11% could not specify. 49% of survey participants approve of the Ministry of Health’s daily briefings regarding COVID-19 while 43% are not in favor of the briefings. 43% said they regularly follow coronavirus news, 21% sometimes take an interest, 18% rarely watch such news, while the remaining 17% are not interested in news about COVID-19 at all.

Sources:

https://t.me/COVID2019_official