Update – 26.11.2020

November 26, 2020

On Thursday November 12, Russia recorded 25,487 new cases of coronavirus in 85 Russian regions, raising the official number of positive results to 2,187,990, with 38,062 fatalities. Most of the new COVID-19 cases (6,075) were registered in Moscow, raising the total number of Muscovites with confirmed COVID-19 to 577,177, with a total number of 1,685,492 recoveries. One out of five, or 21,6% of cases in Russia are asymptomatic, according to official reports.

A total of 221,000 patients with confirmed COVID-19 are currently undergoing treatment in Russian hospitals and approximately 5,000 of them require mechanical ventilation, according to Ministry of Health. 20% of all intensive care units in the country are occupied by COVID-19 patients.

The Moscow Mayor’s Office has extended the restrictions due to the spread of COVID-19 in the city until January 15. These measures include a home isolation regime for residents over 65 y.o. and suffering from chronic diseases, as well as remote work for at least 30% of employees in Moscow companies. Additionally, the city’s leisure facilities for children will be closed until January 15.

St. Petersburg announced the closure of all food courts and ice rinks located in shopping malls, from November 23, while all sporting events will be held without an audience. Cinemas, theaters and concert halls will be open to audiences with 25% capacity, as from December 1.

Moscow schoolchildren in grades 6-11 will continue online education until December. This is the second extension of the measure that was first introduced in October, as the number of cases in grades 6-11 during November remains approximately 1.5-2.2 thousand per week.

The operational headquarters for the fight against coronavirus infection has no plans to impose restrictions due to the spread of COVID-19 at a federal level. Restrictive measures can be introduced by regional authorities, depending on the local epidemic situation.

Aeroflot has increased the frequency of flights to Dubai (UAE) and Male (Maldives) to daily operations. The number of flights to Dubai increased on November 20, and to the Maldives, on November 22. Since the officially approved number of flights has been limited to 8 per week, Aeroflot will be performing daily flights weekly and Azur Air will take over the eighth frequency on the Moscow-Male route from November 28.

Tour operator “Intourist” will begin sales of tickets to the Maldives with direct charter flights by Azur Air on November 28. ANEX Tour began sales a week and a half ago, with the same flights.

Turkey and Russia have agreed to increase the flight frequency on the routes Moscow-Dalaman and Moscow-Bodrum. As reported on November 18 by the press service of the Federal Air Transport Agency, the number of official carriers on these routes will be temporarily (until the end of summer 2021) increased from 2 to 3. Each airline will be able to operate weekly flights. Currently, Pegasus Airlines and Turkish Airlines operate flights from the Turkish side on both routes, S7 and Pobeda fly to Dalaman from the Russian side, and there are no flights to Bodrum.

According to a survey conducted by Booking.com, 61% of Russian tourists plan to cut their budgets for travel following the pandemic. 40% of respondents will choose a special discount offer instead of their ‘dream’ expensive destination and 54% will opt for a short holiday instead of saving money for a planned long haul vacation.

Turkish Airlines will resume flights from Moscow to Cancun, Mexico, on December 2. Round-trip ticket prices will begin at 1000 USD per person. In Mexico, there are no entry restrictions for tourists, while hoteliers offer lower prices and special offers.

The cost of air tickets to Dubai has dropped to almost pre-crisis levels. Now, round-trip tickets with departures in December cost about 460 USD per person. Tour operators have reported an increase in sales and Dubai is among the TOP most popular tourist destinations this winter.

On Thursday, November 26, Kazakhstan recorded 820 new cases of coronavirus, raising the official number of positive cases to 128,400, with 1,990 fatalities

1.5 billion euros will be credited to the country by the Asian Development Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to support measures to combat the pandemic, for the social protection of the population and to restore employment, while also offering support for the real-estate sector of the economy.

The chief state sanitary doctor of Nur-Sultan signed a new decree which came into force on November 24, whereby shopping and entertainment centers are allowed to work on Saturday, with 30% occupancy rate and limited hours. On Sunday, they must remain closed (except for pharmacies and minimarkets, supermarkets and hypermarkets located inside the centres).

From December 5, Air Astana will resume flights from Kazakhstan to the Maldives. Flights will operate weekly, on Wednesdays and Saturdays. During the period December 16 to January 16, Air Astana will operate a wide-body Boeing 767 on the route, with a greater number of passengers on board instead of the regular Airbus 321.

On Thursday, November 26, another all-time record of 15,331 coronavirus cases were confirmed in Ukraine. The official number of positive cases has increased to 677,189, with 11,717 fatalities.

The Cabinet of Ministers is preparing for the possible introduction of strict quarantine during the New Year holidays. A weekend quarantine, which is currently implemented in the country, will be evaluated in early December, although mobile operators have already recorded a significant decrease in population mobility.

The Ministry of Digital Transformation is developing an application which will observe how Ukrainians with COVID-19 adhere to self-isolation, and notify those who have been in contact with COVID-19 patients to self-isolate.

The Hungarian low-cost airline, Wizz Air, has canceled flights from Odessa until March 2021. Additionally, the planned launch of flights to Abu Dhabi have been postponed until January 17.

During the winter travel period, SkyUp Airlines will limit its flight programme, and will only fly to the United Arab Emirates from Kiev, instead of three cities previously announced. Since July 7, Dubai has been open for tourists. However, tourists require two PCR tests to travel to Dubai: one prior to the flight from Ukraine and one upon arrival in the UAE. As such, there is low demand for holidays in Dubai among Ukrainian tourists.

Sources

https://tass.ru/obschestvo