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The first cases of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic were confirmed in Russia on 31 January 2020. Early prevention measures included restricting the border with China and extensive testing. Later measures, after the infection spread from Italy on 2 March, included cancelling events, closing schools, theatres and museums, shutting the border, and declaring a non-working period which is currently in effect until at least 30 April. By the end of March, lockdowns were imposed in the vast majority of federal subjects, including Moscow. By 17 April, cases were confirmed in all federal subjects.

As of 18 April, there have been 36,793 confirmed cases in all federal subjects, 3,057 recoveries, 313 deaths and over 1.81 million tests performed. The city of Moscow is currently the most affected federal subject, having the majority of confirmed cases.

Background

On 12 January, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, who had initially come to the attention of the WHO on 31 December 2019.

Unlike SARS of 2003, the case fatality ratio for COVID-19 has been much lower, but the transmission has been significantly greater, with a significant total death toll.

Timeline

Further information: Timeline of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic

January-February 2020

On 24 January first testing systems were developed and deployed to laboratories around the country.

On 31 January, two cases were confirmed, one in Tyumen, another in Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai. Both were Chinese nationals, who have since recovered.

On 23 February, eight Russians from the cruise ship Diamond Princess were evacuated to Kazan, Tatarstan where they were hospitalised, including three confirmed cases. These cases were listed as occurring on international conveyance and not included in official Russian statistics by Rospotrebnadzor. These eight people, including the three patients who recovered, were discharged from hospital on 8 March.

Some of Russia's citizens abroad have been confirmed to be infected, on 28 February a Russian man tested positive in Azerbaijan after he had visited Iran. While some days later the Health ministry of the UAE announced that two Russians got the virus in United Arab Emirates.

March 2020

On 1 March, a woman escaped from the hospital in Sevastopol (in the disputed Crimean peninsula) before being tested for the virus. She fled to Rostov-on-Don and is on the wanted list.

On 2 March, the first case of coronavirus in Moscow was confirmed. A young man fell ill on 21 February while on holiday in Italy, and returned to Russia on 23 February, staying at his house in Moscow Oblast. He showed up with symptoms at a clinic on 27 February, and was then hospitalised in Moscow. He was reported to be recovered on 6 March.

On 5 March, the first case of coronavirus in Saint Petersburg was confirmed. An Italian student returned to Russia from Italy on 29 February, was hospitalised on 2 March and recovered on 13 March.

On 6 March, six more cases were confirmed, with five of them being in Moscow and one of them being in Nizhny Novgorod. All of them are reported to be linked to Italy.

On 7 March, four cases were confirmed, three in Lipetsk and one in Saint Petersburg. All of them had returned from Italy.

On 8 March, three new cases in Belgorod, Moscow and Kaliningrad oblasts were confirmed, all of them had returned from Italy.

On 9 March, three cases in Moscow were confirmed, all of them coming from Italy.

On 11 March, eight new cases were confirmed, six in Moscow and two in Moscow Oblast, all people coming from Italy.

On 12 March, six cases were confirmed, including four in Moscow, one in Kaliningrad Oblast and the first case in Krasnodar Krai. On the same day, two tourists arrived from Moscow on 3 March were diagnosed with the disease in Israel.

On 13 March, 11 new cases were confirmed: five in Moscow, three in St. Petersburg, one in Leningrad Oblast, Moscow Oblast, and Perm Krai. All of the patients came from Italy, France, or Austria, except for one who got infected locally.

On 14 March, first two cases in Kemerovo Oblast were confirmed. Also, there were nine new cases in Moscow, one in Moscow Oblast, Saint Petersburg and Kaliningrad Oblast each.

On 15 March, four new cases were confirmed, including three in Moscow region and one in Tyumen. The patients had recently visited Spain, Italy, France and Switzerland.

On 16 March, 30 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number of cases to 93. Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova announced that 7 cases were from contact with other patients while the other 86 were imported. 3 new cases were in Samara Oblast for the first time, with the first cases in Kirov Oblast and Komi Republic.

On 17 March, 21 more cases were confirmed; four in Moscow, two in Samara Oblast, Kaliningrad Oblast, Tver Oblast, one in Moscow Oblast, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Tambov Oblast, Kaluga Oblast, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Penza Oblast, Tatarstan, Khakassia, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Yaroslavl Oblast. One patient got cured.

On 18 March, 33 new cases were confirmed including 31 in Moscow, one new case in Novosibirsk Oblast and Tomsk Oblast each.

On 19 March, the first death of a patient with confirmed COVID-19 was reported in Moscow. A 79-year-old woman was first hospitalised on 13 March and transferred to a private clinic the next day. Upon confirmation of COVID-19 she was transferred to an intensive care ward in Moscow Infectious Hospital #2. She also suffered from type 2 diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease (and underwent coronary stenting), coronary and aortic atherosclerosis, chronic pulmonary hypertension, kidney stone disease, and cerebrovascular disease. However, pulmonary embolism was identified as the direct cause of her death, she had no pathological changes in lungs, and her death was not officially counted as caused by coronavirus. The victim was identified in the media as Valentina Zubareva, professor at the Gubkin University, she had contracted the disease in Russia. 52 new cases were also confirmed in 23 regions including first cases in Chuvashia, Yakutia, Khabarovsk Krai, Ivanovo, Murmansk, Orenburg, Ryazan, Saratov, Tula, Voronezh oblasts, and Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, bringing the total number to 199.

On 20 March, 54 new cases were confirmed, including 33 in Moscow, 6 in Yakutia, 4 in Saint Petersburg, 4 in Samara Oblast, 2 in Kirov Oblast, 2 in Novosibirsk Oblast, 1 in Moscow Oblast, 1 in Tyumen Oblast, and the first case in Ulyanovsk Oblast.

On 21 March, 53 new cases were confirmed in 18 federal subjects, including first cases in Kabardino-Balkaria (2 cases), Stavropol Krai, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Kurgan Oblast, and disputed Republic of Crimea (1 case each).

On 22 March, 61 new cases were confirmed, including 54 in Moscow, 2 in Kirov Oblast, 1 case in Arkhangelsk Oblast, first cases in Udmurtia (2 cases), Bryansk Oblast, and Novgorod Oblast (1 case each).

On 23 March, 71 new cases were confirmed, all of them in Moscow.

On 24 March, 57 new cases were confirmed, including first cases in Primorsky Krai, Oryol Oblast, the Chechen Republic, Volgograd Oblast and Bashkortostan.

On 25 March, 163 new cases were confirmed, 120 of them in Moscow, with first cases in Pskov Oblast and Rostov Oblast. 2 deaths were also later reported and confirmed in Moscow. The patients were 73 and 88 years old and had been tested positive for the coronavirus.

On 26 March, 182 new cases were confirmed, 136 of them in Moscow, with first cases in Buryatia. According to a source in the hospital and an official report to the prosecutor office, an 83-year-old woman (a patient of a surgeon who got sick earlier, see 31 March) died in Syktyvkar of COVID-19, the death was covered up by the local authorities and not included in the official count. An official working under the chief of staff of the prime minister also tested positive for the coronavirus that day.

On 27 March, 196 new cases were confirmed, 157 of them in Moscow, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 1,036. The first cases in Mordovia and Dagestan were confirmed. An additional death in Moscow, a 70-year-old woman with pre-existing conditions who tested positive for coronavirus, was also confirmed. On the same day, the Kremlin confirmed that an employee of the presidential administration tested positive for the coronavirus, saying that the official had no contact with the president. Russian singer Lev Leshchenko was also confirmed to have tested positive for the virus. Later in the day, the 4th death was reported, a 56-year-old woman with one lung due to cancer, also in Moscow.

On 28 March, the fifth patient died in Orenburg, the first death outside of Moscow. The 57-year-old man from Buzuluk, Orenburg Oblast had travelled in France, Spain and Turkey in March. He had a chronic pathology. 228 new cases were confirmed, 114 of them in Moscow, bringing the total number of cases to 1,264. First cases were confirmed in Adygea, Kostroma, Sakhalin and Smolensk oblasts. Later that day, two deaths were reported in Saint Petersburg and Moscow.

On 29 March, 270 new cases were confirmed, 197 of them in Moscow, bringing the total number in the city to 1,014 and in the country to 1,534. Mayor of Moscow Sergey Sobyanin later in the day announced that the city would be on lockdown starting the next day. Irkutsk Oblast, Amur Oblast and Omsk Oblast all had their first confirmed cases. The total number of confirmed deaths reached 8.

On 30 March, 302 new cases were confirmed, including 212 in Moscow, bringing the total number to 1,836. The first cases were found in Kalmykia, Mari El, Altai Krai, Vladimir Oblast, and Vologda Oblast. The number of deaths rose to 9.

On 31 March, 500 new cases were confirmed, 387 of them in Moscow and 48 of them in St. Petersburg, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 2,337 in the 7th consecutive one-day record. First cases in Magadan Oblast and Astrakhan Oblast were confirmed that day. The number of confirmed deaths almost doubled from 9 the previous day to 17. The medical director of Moscow's main coronavirus hospital in Kommunarka, Denis Protsenko, was also reported to have tested positive for the coronavirus. A 61-year-old female, manager of the Syktyvkar hospital, which became a focus of the disease after a surgeon got sick on 16 March, died of COVID-19, but again, as with the death of a patient of the hospital surgical department on 26 March (see above), the death was not included in the official statistic even despite the pathology lab officially confirmed the diagnosis to the local media.

April 2020

On 1 April, 440 new cases were confirmed, with 267 of them in Moscow, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 2,777. The first cases were confirmed in Kursk Oblast and North Ossetia. The number of confirmed deaths rose by 7 to 24.

On 2 April, 771 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 3,548. The number of confirmed deaths rose by 8 to 30.

On 3 April, 601 new cases were confirmed, including the first cases in Ingushetia and the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 4,149. The number of confirmed deaths rose by 4 to 34.

On 4 April, 582 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total to 4,731, with the number of confirmed deaths reaching 43.

On 5 April, 658 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total to 5,389, with the first two cases being confirmed in Kamchatka Krai. Confirmed deaths rose to 45.

On 6 April, 954 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total to 6,343, with the first two cases being confirmed in the Republic of Karelia. Confirmed deaths rose to 47.

On 7 April, 1,154 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total to 7,497, with the first three cases being confirmed in Karachay-Cherkessia. Confirmed deaths rose to 58.

On 8 April, 1,175 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total to 8,672. Confirmed deaths rose to 63.

On 9 April, 1,459 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total to 10,131. Confirmed deaths rose to 76.

On 10 April, 1,786 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 11,917, with the first six cases being confirmed in Tuva. Confirmed deaths rose to 94.

On 11 April, 1,667 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 13,584. Confirmed deaths rose to 106.

On 12 April, 2,186 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 15,770. Confirmed deaths rose to 130.

On 13 April, 2,558 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 18,328. Confirmed deaths rose to 148.

On 14 April, 2,774 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 21,102. Confirmed deaths rose to 170.

On 15 April, 3,388 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 24,490. The first cases were recorded in Chukotka and Nenets autonomous okrugs. Confirmed deaths rose to 198.

On 16 April, 3,448 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 27,938. Confirmed deaths rose to 232.

On 17 April, 4,070 new cases were confirmed, bringing the total number to 32,008. The first case was confirmed in the last federal subject, the Altai Republic. Confirmed deaths rose to 273.

Healthcare system

See also: Healthcare in Russia, Health care systems by country, List of countries by hospital beds, and Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation § The number of ECMOs by countries and territories

On 19 March 2020, the Russian Government reported the following data. More than 55 thousand beds for infectious cases were deployed, including more than 12 thousand intensive care units and 396 observatories. 7.5 thousand Melzer boxes were prepared. Medical organizations have more than 40 thousand devices for artificial lung ventilation, 124 devices for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). The government of the Russian Federation has allocated resources for the additional purchase of more than 500 devices, including 17 ECMO devices. Today, 6 thousand infectious diseases doctors and almost 2 thousand pulmonologists, more than 18 thousand nurses are ready to provide medical assistance.

According to the OECD, Russia ranks third in the number of beds per capita. However, bed equipment varies from hospital to hospital. In terms of equipment — for example, CT and MRI devices — Russia is in 28th place with a dramatic gap from the leaders. Rosstat does not publish data on the number of places in intensive care units and equipment. In total, there are 1 million 172 thousand beds in Russian hospitals, according to Rosstat data for 2018. These include intensive care units. Intensive care bed means a bed equipped with a set of equipment for resuscitation and intensive care, including ventilators. The Institute of Phthisiopulmonology and infectious diseases of the Ministry of Health estimated the number of intensive care beds at just 12 thousand, which is three times less than the Ministry of Health's standard. The proekt.media website was able to find data on the number of intensive care beds in only 23 regions. Only Moscow, Kalmykia, Altai and Komi reached the standard of 3%. Other regions are significantly below the standard.
Separate ventilators in hospitals should be more than intensive care beds. The number of ventilators in a region should be at least 1.5 times more than the number of intensive care beds. There are no official statistics on the number of ventilators. Federal authorities with the beginning of the epidemic conducted their own calculations: Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said that Russia has 40 thousand ventilators. This is 3.4% of the total number of beds in Russia, and more than 12 thousand devices are missing from the standards of the Ministry of health. This is a total deficit of 23%, but in some regions it is much larger. The website asks, can we be sure that all the devices included in the statistics are in working order? 58% of ventilators are more than 9 years old. Components may require more frequent replacement. For example, the oxygen sensor of the American model common in Russia, Puritan Bennett, is subject to replacement every two years.

Data collected by the news website Meduza indicates that Russia's supply of ventilators is quite extensive: Even the number available per capita in some geographically peripheral regions, not to mention Moscow, significantly exceeds ventilator supplies in Western countries.

Extended content

VENTILATORS PER 100,000 RESIDENTS REGION VENTILATORS PER 100,000 RESIDENTS Khanty-Mansi AO 56.8 Samara region 42.6 Amur region 42.5 Moscow (city) 40 Kirov region 39.6 Arkhangelsk region 38.4 Sakha Republic (Yakutia) 37.2 Sakhalin region 37.1 Tomsk region 37.1 St. Petersburg (city) 35.2 Lipetsk region 35.1 Sverdlovsk region 35 Chuvash Republic (Chuvashia) 34.7 Altai Krai 34.6 Republic of Crimea (status disputed) 34.3 Republic of Karelia 32.5 Yaroslavl region 31.5 Vladimir region 31.4 Tambov region 31.2 Penza region 30.7 Murmansk region 30.5 Pskov region 30.3 Republic of Tatarstan 28.2 Orenburg region 27.7 Russia 27.3 Kemerovo region 27.3 Ryazan region 27.1 Irkutsk region 26.5 Republic of Bashkortostan (Bashkiria) 25.5 Republic of Buryatia 24.9 VENTILATORS PER 100,000 RESIDENTS REGION VENTILATORS PER 100,000 RESIDENTS Krasnoyarsk Krai 24.6 Chelyabinsk region 24.5 Astrakhan region 23.9 Zabaikalsky Krai 22.8 Saratov region 22.1 Vologda region 22.1 Kursk region 21.9 Orel region 21.8 Mari El Republic 20.9 Novosibirsk region 20.4 Tula region 20.3 Udmurt Republic (Udmurtia) 20.2 Perm Krai 20 Kostroma region 19.1 United States 18.8 Kaliningrad region 18.8 Omsk region 18.7 Ivanovo region 17.9 Krasnodar Krai 17.6 Belgorod region 16.8 Rostov region 15.3 Voronezh region 15 Leningrad region 14.3 United Kingdom 12.9 Sevastopol (city; status disputed) 12.9 Tver region 9.4 Ukraine 8.6 Italy 8.3 Kaluga region 4.8

A Meduza investigation revealed that the areas with the highest proportions of elderly residents (Tula, Tambov, Ryazan, and Tver regions) are most vulnerable to the epidemic because of few number of ventilators and, in particular, Tula and Tver governors didn't issue general stay-at-home order.

Government responses

On 29 January, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting on measures to counter the spread of coronavirus in Russia.

On 16 March, Mayor of Moscow Sergei Sobyanin held the first meeting of the State Council working group on countering the spread of coronavirus.

Russia implemented preventive measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the country by imposing quarantines, carrying raids on potential virus carriers and using facial recognition to impose quarantine measures. Measures to prevent a crisis in Russia include banning the export of medical masks, random checks on the Moscow Metro, and cancellation of large-scale events by schools. The Russian government has also taken measures to prevent foreign citizens from heavily affected countries from visiting Russia.

The Russian consumer health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor advised tourists to refrain from visiting Wuhan and stay away from Chinese zoos and markets selling animals and seafood. The agency also said that development of a vaccine against the virus was underway, relying on the WHO's recommendations.

144 Russians were evacuated from Wuhan, the initial centre of the outbreak, and were quarantined in Tyumen Oblast for two weeks from 5 February.

On 4 March, Russia temporarily banned the export of medical masks, gloves, bandages and protective suits.

On 21 March, it was announced that Russia delivered over 100,000 test kits to 13 countries, including Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Serbia, Egypt, Venezuela, Iran, and North Korea.

On 22 March, after a phone call with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Russian president Vladimir Putin arranged the Russian army to send medical help to Italy, which was the European country hardest hit by coronavirus.

On 24 March, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin told President Putin at a meeting that "a serious situation is unfolding" and that the relatively low number of confirmed cases could be due to a low level of testing, saying that "there are far more people who are infected" and that the number of people in Moscow suspected of having the coronavirus was about 500.

Testing

On 24 January first testing systems were developed and deployed to laboratories around the country.

As of 23 March, Russia has 4 testing systems and has carried out over 165 thousand tests for the virus which is among the highest testing numbers in the world. Two private lab companies started testing on 26 March. According to Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, as of 25 March, 141 state laboratories were conducting tests in 79 federal subjects. There are plans to increase the number of reference centres across the country to 15. On 27 March, the Federal Service for Surveillance in Healthcare (Roszdravnadzor) registered two more test systems. In Moscow on 21 March the average of those tested was low at 35 years and starting to rise to 37-39 years.

On 9 April, Russia passed the 1 million test mark and in addition to the laboratories of Rospotrebnadzor 200 state medical laboratories and 22 private laboratories are carrying out testing. There is a drive to further expand testing with any laboratory being able to carry out tests by submitting a notification to the central website.

Dr. Melita Vujnovic, the World Health Organization's representative in Russia, stated that Russia, in accordance with WHO recommendations, "started testing literally at the end of January.” Coronavirus testing in Russia was provided by the State Research Center of Virology and Biotechnology VECTOR in Novosibirsk and had to be verified there. There was concern that the tests may have insufficient sensitivity, despite the fact that the tests were verified in China since early February, showed the degree of sensitivity similar to or higher than other tests and the lab has been approved by the World Health Organization. Since 23 March, European Russia doesn't send their batches to Novosibirsk for verification, verifying them instead in a Moscow reference centre.

There was some skepticism about the accuracy of Russia's reported infection figures. Anastasia Vasilyeva, leader of the Doctors' Alliance organisation loosely aligned to the Russian opposition and doctor for opposition figure Alexei Navalny, made a series of videos accusing the authorities of concealing the true number of coronavirus cases by using pneumonia and acute respiratory infection as a diagnosis instead. Health officials rejected the allegation, and President Putin addressed concerns about statistics, saying that the government is not covering up the number of cases, though might not have the full picture. The WHO's representative to Russia, Dr. Vujnovic, also expressed skepticism at the allegation.

Travel and entry restrictions

Social distancing signs in the Moscow Metro on 1 April.

On 23 January, the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk, near the Chinese border, limited access to the country. Cultural exchange and official visits to China were cancelled. The Governors of the Amur Oblast Vasily Orlov, and of the Penza Oblast Ivan Belozertsev, called on residents to abandon trips to China altogether. Residents of large cities were told to avoid contact with tourists from China.

On 31 January, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova said Russia will restrict the entry of foreigners arriving from China, except for flights to Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport.

On 20 February, the entry of Chinese citizens was banned. The temporary suspension is for Chinese citizens entering Russia for employment, private, educational and tourist purposes.

On 28 February, Moscow announced that it would deport 88 foreigners for allegedly violating quarantine measures. Russia barred Iranian citizens from entering Russia and said it would also restrict the entry of South Korean citizens from 1 March. Flights between Russia and South Korea are suspended, except for those operated by Aeroflot and Aurora.

On 4 March, Russia suspended its train service from Moscow to Nice, France. Aeroflot suspended flights to and from Hong Kong since 9 March.

Flights to and from Italy, Germany, France and Spain are limited since 13 March. Russia also stopped issuing tourist visas to Italian citizens and closed the border to Italian citizens and foreigners coming from Italy.

On 15 March, the land borders with Norway and Poland were closed to all foreigners. Russian Railways announced it would stop passenger trains from Moscow to Berlin and Paris. Earlier it was announced that train connections to and from Ukraine, Moldova and Latvia would be suspended because those countries had closed their borders.

Since 16 March, flights to and from the European Union, Norway and Switzerland were limited to regular flights between capital cities (Geneva in the case of Switzerland) and Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport, and charter flights. Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced that the border with Belarus has been closed for the movement of people and an entry ban for foreigners will be imposed from 18 March to 1 May. On 17 March, Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Russian embassies and consulates had stopped issuing all types of visas, including e-visas, with exceptions for diplomats, people attending funerals and transit passengers.

On 23 March, Russia restricted air travel from all over the world, except for certain flights from Moscow to major capitals, and charter flights intended to move foreign citizens to their respective countries and Russian nationals back to Russia, until everyone is evacuated.

On 25 March, the Russian government loosened the travel ban to allow the entry for relatives of Russian citizens.

All regular and charter international flights were suspended on 27 March, except for those aimed at bringing Russians home.

On the same day, Grozny Airport refused to receive passengers without permanent or temporary registration in Chechnya.

Following a request from the Government of Moscow, BlaBlaCar carpooling service decided to suspend its activities across Russia starting from 30 March.

On 28 March, the Russian government decided to close all automobile, railway, pedestrian, river, or other border checkpoints, including on the Belarus border, with exceptions similar to that of the air travel restrictions. The ban must be enforced on 30 March.

Nationwide measures

President Putin, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin visited the Coronavirus Monitoring Centre on 17 March

Call centre for the coronavirus situation in Moscow at Khodynsky Boulevard located in the gym of school No. 1409.

On 14 and 15 March, Ministry of Education and Ministry of Science and Higher Education recommended regions to adopt distance learning if it becomes necessary.

On 17 March, Ministry of Culture announced closing all cultural institutions under its jurisdiction, including museums, theaters, symphonies, and circuses. On the same day, President Vladimir Putin said that the situation was "generally under control".

On 18 March, Minister of Education Sergey Kravtsov announced that all Russian schools would be closed from 23 March to 12 April.

On 19 March, Russia's Chief Sanitary Doctor Anna Popova required all people arriving from abroad to undergo a two-week self-isolation. Russian courts stopped considering all but most urgent cases because of the pandemic until 10 April.

On 24 March, the Russian government adopted a number of decisions, including an instruction to regional authorities to suspend activities of any night clubs, cinemas, children's entertainment centres, and to ban hookah smoking at any restaurants or cafes. The Central Bank recommended all the banks to keep the money for 3–4 days before giving it to clients or loading it into ATMs, and to restrict usage of cash recycling ATMs.

On 25 March, President Putin, in a televised address to the nation, announced that the 2020 Russian constitutional referendum would be postponed due to the coronavirus. He added that the next week would be a nationwide paid holiday and urged Russians to stay at home. Putin also announced a list of measures of social protection, support for small and medium-sized enterprises, and changes in fiscal policy.

On 26 March, Minister of Science and Higher Education Valery Falkov ordered all universities to close from March 28 to April 5.

On 27 March, as a follow-up to Putin's address to the nation, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin ordered all reservations at pensions or holiday houses to be cancelled from 28 March to 1 June, recommended regional authorities to close all the pistes at resorts for the same period, instructed them to force all the public eating places (except for delivery services) to suspend activities from 28 March to 5 April, and recommended that citizens refrain from travelling. On the same day, the Ministry of Education announced the postponement of the Unified State Exam from the end of May to the beginning of June.

On 30 March, as Moscow and Moscow Oblast declared a lockdown, Mishustin urged all regions to follow the example and take similar measures. He also announced a bill that would raise fines for breaching quarantine requirements.

On 31 March, the Federal Assembly approved a law allowing the executive cabinet to declare a state of emergency on its own. Previously, only a commission led by the Minister of Emergency Situations could do that.

On 1 April, Prime Minister Mishustin and the Minister of Communications Maxut Shadayev announced creating a system of tracking quarantine violation based on data of mobile network operators. Violators will receive a text message, and if they breach it systematically, the information will be sent to the police.

On 2 April, President Putin extended the non-working period to 30 April.

Lockdowns

Map of federal subjects that have announced the "self-isolation regime".

  Stay-at-home order

  Partial restrictions or recommendations

Playground closed for quarantine, April 7, 2020

On 28 March, the Chechen authorities urged the population of the republic not to leave their places of permanent residence, and banned entry to Grozny for anyone except emergency services, food supplies, government officials, police, and journalists. On the next day, Chechnya closed its borders, with a full lockdown coming into effect on 30 March.

On 29 March, Moscow issued a stay-at-home order for all residents starting on 30 March. Muscovites will not be allowed to leave their homes except in cases of emergency medical care and other threats to life and health, to travel to work for those who are obliged to, to make purchases in the nearest shop or pharmacy, to walk pets at a distance not exceeding 100 metres from the place of residence, as well as to take out the garbage. People have to keep a distance of 1.5 metres. Recently unemployed will get 19,500 rubles a month. After that, a similar regime was introduced in Moscow Oblast at 20:00 MSK on 29 March. Senator Andrey Klishas, chair of the Federation Council Committee on constitutional legislation and state construction, criticized this decision, saying that such restrictions are the exclusive competence of the Federal Assembly and the President.

On 30 March, similar orders were announced in Adygea, the Komi Republic, Mari El, Tatarstan, Chuvashia, some districts of Yakutia, Arkhangelsk, Astrakhan, Belgorod, Irkutsk, Kaliningrad, Kursk, Lipetsk, Murmansk, Nizhny Novgorod, Novgorod, Ryazan, Saratov, Sverdlovsk, Ulyanovsk and Vologda oblasts, the cities of Bryansk and Saint Petersburg. Leningrad Oblast banned movement of people between districts and introduced a lockdown in the town of Murino.

On 31 March, the "self-isolation regime" was announced in republics of Altai, Bashkortostan, Buryatia, Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Kalmykia, Karachay-Cherkessia, Karelia, Khakassia, Mordovia, Udmurtia and Tuva, Altai, Khabarovsk (for those over 65), Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Perm, Primorsky, Stavropol and Zabaykalsky krais, Bryansk, Chelyabinsk, Kaluga, Kemerovo, Kirov, Kostroma, Kurgan, Magadan, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Penza, Pskov (for those over 65), Rostov, Sakhalin, Samara, Smolensk, Tambov, Tomsk, Vladimir, Volgograd, Voronezh and Yaroslavl oblasts, Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets autonomous okrugs, the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, the city of Sevastopol. Republics of Yakutia and Karelia limited the sale of alcohol.

On 1 April, the regime was announced in the disputed territory of Crimea and Sevastopol, the republic of North Ossetia-Alania, Kamchatka and Khabarovsk krais, Ivanovo and Orenburg oblasts.

On 2 April, the regime was announced in Amur Oblast (for those over 65), Tyumen Oblast, and Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.

On 3 April, the regime was announced in Oryol Oblast and Tula Oblast (for those over 65).

Local measures

Chechnya was the first region to close restaurants and cafes on 24 March and to announce closing its borders since 5 April.

Moscow and Moscow Oblast

President Putin visits coronavirus patients at Moscow hospital on 24 March.

Denis Protsenko (middle), the medical director of the Kommunarka hospital visited by President Putin (left) and Moscow Mayor Sobyanin (right), tested positive for the coronavirus on March 31, 2020.

Construction of an infection centre in Moscow in connection with the spread of coronavirus started on March 12. The photo shows progress as of March 16, 2020.

March 21, 2020.

Infectious Diseases Hospital in Voronovskoye was opened on April 17.

Moscow started the construction of a special hospital for the coronavirus patients near the villages of Babenki and Golokhvastovo in Troitsky Administrative Okrug.

From the beginning of the outbreak, Moscow patients have been brought to already-in-place newly-constructed yet underused City Hospital No. 40 in the district of Kommunarka, which is located outside MKAD and only recently got a metro station. Subsequently, almost 30 hospitals in Moscow started to receive suspected COVID-19 patients, with being the City Hospital No. 15, Infectious Hospital No. 2, Bashlyaeva Children's Hospital, Infectious Hospital No. 2, and the hospital in Kommunarka being the most capacious of them. In mid-April, it was announced that additional 24 hospitals would be repurposed to receive coronavirus patients, bringing the total number of beds available in the city to 21 thousand.

On 6 March, Mayor of Moscow Sergei Sobyanin announced a “high alert regime”, ordering self-isolation for two weeks for Russians returning from China, South Korea, Iran, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

On 10 March, Mayor Sobyanin signed a decree for banning mass events in Moscow with more than 5,000 participants from 10 March to 10 April.

On 12 March, the Governor of Moscow Oblast Andrey Vorobyov has announced a high alert status, banning large events with over 5,000 people.

Since 16 March, school attendance was optional in Moscow and Moscow Oblast. According to RBK, Moscow recommended that private schools go on a two-week holiday or switch to distance learning. On 21 March, schools were closed for three weeks.

On 16 March, Moscow extended measures to closing public schools, athletic schools and supplemental education institutions from 21 March to 12 April; banning indoor events with more than 50 attendees and all outdoor mass events. The compulsory 14-day self-isolation which had been previously enforced to people coming China, South Korea and Iran, was extended to those coming from the United States and all European countries.

On 23 March, Mayor Sobyanin ordered all people over 65 to self-isolate at home starting Thursday, saying each would receive 4,000 rubles (around $50) for following the order. He also suggested that older residents leave Moscow and stay in their dachas. School students' public transportation cards were temporarily suspended, starting from the 5th grade.

On 24 March, it was announced that Moscow hospitals would receive up to 200,000 rubles (around $2,500) for each coronavirus patient from the city's health insurance fund.

On 25 March, following the respective decision of the federal government, Mayor Sobyanin ordered the closure of all municipal libraries and clubs, as well as cinemas and night clubs, banned hookah smoking in cafes, and suspended any organized leisure social activities, including amusement parks. He also instructed dental clinics to see patients with acute pain or other emergencies only. Municipal multiservice centres suspended services, except for those unavailable online. Free or concessionary use of public transport was suspended for people aged over 65, with chronic diseases, students of vocational schools or high schools.

On 26 March, Mayor Sobyanin ordered restaurants, cafes, bars, canteens, parks, commercial, and retail businesses requiring personal attendance, except those providing essential services, like grocery shops and pharmacies, to close during the week from 28 March to 5 April, the holiday week announced by President Putin.

On 28 March, Sobyanin urged the Muscovites to stay at home, except for seeking medical help, work travel, local shopping, walking pets not further than 100 m from home, taking out trash. He announced that a "smart control system" would be introduced to control these rules.

On 3 April, Sobyanin announced that the city bike-sharing system Velobike would resume operation after the winter break on 10 April, but will be available for delivery agents and volunteers only, free of charge.

On 4 April, he ordered all the businesses in the city that were working to secure a social distance of at least 1.5 m between the workers and the customers.

On 10 April, Sobyanin introduced a system of electronic permits due to the increase in violations of the stay-at-home regime, ordered most types of companies and institutions in the city to halt operation, paused the work of the world's largest carsharing system. Starting from 15 April, people using private cars, taxis or public transport, will have to get a digital pass indicating the purpose of travel. The number of permits available will be limited, except for unlimited passes for work trips.

Accusations of ethnic profiling at the earlier stages

In February, it was reported that drivers of Mosgortrans were required to inform their dispatchers if they see Chinese nationals in their vehicles, for police to be called. Moscow Metro employees were required to ask Chinese nationals to fill in questionnaires.

On 21 February, Mayor Sobyanin confirmed that Mosgortrans and Moscow Metro were asked to work together with police forces to "monitor those who arrived from China". Facial recognition was also used to track these people.

On 24 February, the Chinese Embassy in Russia asked Moscow authorities to put an end to these "excessive measures" in transport. Sobyanin insisted that the measures were not discriminatory but helped control those who were required to stay self-isolated upon arrival from China.

In early March, numerous cases of deportation of Chinese students who allegedly broke the quarantine rules were reported.

However at the later stages many of these Russian measures were applied to all foreign arrivals, including for Russian citizens coming back from abroad, with them being forced into self quarantine and facecam profiling. 200 cases of quarantine-breakers by Russian citizens were reported to be recognized with facecam profiling, tracked by public surveillance cameras in Moscow.

Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast

On 13 March, the governors of Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast Alexander Beglov and Aleksandr Drozdenko announced a high alert status and banned events with more than 1,000 and 300 people respectively.

On 18 March, Governor of Saint Petersburg Alexander Beglov banned events and gatherings with more than 50 people.

On 26 March, he ordered restaurants, cafes, bars, canteens, parks, places of worship, commercial and retail businesses requiring personal attendance, except those providing essential services, like grocery shops and pharmacies, to close during the holiday week from 28 March to 5 April. Free and concessionary tickets for public transport will be suspended during the week. Leisure facilities including night clubs, children's playrooms, and recreation centres will be closed until 30 April. In Leningrad Oblast only pharmacies, grocery shops, building material and household shops will remain open during the holiday week.

On 1 April, the Saint Petersburg Metro will start closing at 22:00 MSK instead of 0:00–0:45 MSK. Ground transportation will end at 23:00 MSK and its intervals will be increased.

Economic impact

KFC restaurant in Pushkino, Moscow Oblast switched to a take-away regime.

On 20 February, Minister of Finance Anton Siluanov said Russia is losing around 1 billion rubles each day because of decreased trade with China.

On 5 March, the head of the Russian Association of Tour Operators said Russia's tourism sector had already taken a 27 billion ruble hit from the impact of the coronavirus.

As a result of the pandemic, factory output and transportation demand fell, bringing overall demand for oil down as well, and causing oil prices to fall. This triggered an OPEC summit in Vienna on 5 March. At the summit, OPEC agreed to cut oil production by an additional 1.5 million barrels per day through the second quarter of the year. OPEC called on Russia and other non-OPEC members of OPEC+ to abide by the OPEC decision. On 6 March, Russia rejected the demand, marking the end of the partnership, with oil prices falling 10% after the announcement. On 8 March, Saudi Arabia initiated an oil price war with Russia, triggering a major fall in the price of oil around 30%. The price war is one of the major causes of the currently ongoing global stock market crash. As the result of the oil price falling, the Russian ruble suffered a fall hitting a four-year low against the U.S. dollar.

On 17 March, First Deputy Minister of Transport and Federal Air Transport Agency head Alexander Neradko said cancellation of international flights during the pandemic threatens to bankrupt multiple Russian airlines. Russian airlines lost an estimated 1.7 billion rubles due to the cancellation of flights to China in February. According to Neradko, airlines could lose another 100 billion rubles in revenues by the end of the year.

On 23 March, Russia's federal list of “systemically important” companies was expanded to three times, featuring about 600 businesses. According to Vedomosti, the updated list includes new airlines (Rossiya, S7, Utair), airports (Moscow Domodedovo, Saint Petersburg Pulkovo), grocery chains (Vkusvill, Auchan), fast food chains (McDonald's, Burger King), and retail shops (Sportmaster, IKEA).

On 24 March, Mayor of Moscow Sergei Sobyanin issued orders to support businesses which include postponing payments on organizations’ property and land taxes, deferring rental payments, reducing payments fixed in trading contracts and extending the deadlines for paying trade fees. On 25 March, President of Russia Vladimir Putin announced following measures for microenterprises, small- and medium-sized businesses: deferring tax payments (except Russia's value-added tax) for the next six months, cutting the size of social security contributions in half, deferring social security contributions, deferring loan repayments for the next six months, a six-month moratorium on fines, debt collection, and creditors’ applications for bankruptcy of debtor enterprises. Additionally, a new tax on income from large deposits will be introduced in 2021, and the tax on offshores will be increased. On 27 March, the Association of Banks of Russia reported an increase of deposits closure.

On 25 March, associations of companies of online shopping, retail, culinary, and nine other industries sent a letter to Prime Minister Mishustin, in which they warned of a possible collapse of their businesses and asked for numerous additional measures of support. On 26 March, a petition signed by publishing houses and bookshops pleading for support was published. On 30 March, owners of hotels and restaurants asked the government for 1-year tax deferral and other fiscal measures.

Aeroflot′s low-cost carrier Pobeda Airlines announced it would stop flights on 1 April until 31 May.

Sberbank and VTB Bank with backing from the Central Bank will start offering six-month, interest-free loans to businesses to help them pay employee salaries.

The Eurasian Economic Union will ban export of the onions, garlics, turnips, rye, rice, buckwheat, proso millets, groats, whole-wheat flour, granules of cereal grain, pealed buckwheat grain, buckwheat ready meals, soybeans, sunflower seeds from 10 April to 30 June.

Social impact

Event cancellations

On 5 March, First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov announced cancelling St. Petersburg International Economic Forum which was due to be held from 3 to 6 June 2020.

On 11 March, Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu cancelled the Moscow International Security Conference which had been scheduled for 22 to 23 April.

As TASS reported on 17 March, all football, hockey and basketball games were suspended until 10 April. On the same day, UEFA confirmed postponing Euro 2020 until summer 2021, one of the venues of which is Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg.

Despite the fact that a conscription started on 1 April, conscripts won't be sent to duty stations until 20 May.

On 16 April, President Putin postponed the 2020 Victory Day Parade until later this year.

Religious services

Mother and baby go to church in Russia on 4 March, during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On 17 March, the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church published Instructions to rectors of parishes and monasteries’ town churches, abbots and abbesses of the monasteries of the Russian Orthodox Church over the threat of spreading coronavirus infection (in English), which said it had been approved by the ROC's Holy Synod and instructed the ROC's clergy to use disposable cups, gloves, and facial tissue during sacraments and celebrations, disinfect church plates and premises regularly, and refrain from offering the hand for kissing. A nearly identical Russian-language Instructions were addressed to the clergy of the Moscow diocese and said it had been approved by the Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus'. When in St. Petersburg attendance of places of worship was restricted for the public on 26 March, the Moscow Patriarchate's lawyer deemed it unlawful.

On 29 March, Patriarch Kirill delivered a sermon in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour that urged people to refrain from visiting church, citing the life of St. Mary of Egypt. On 3 April, Kirill issued an encyclical for the clergy and faithful of the "dioceses in the territory of the Russian Federation" urging the clergy to conduct church services without laypeople's presence. As the city of Moscow decided to tighten lockdown measures starting from 13 April, and following a request from chief sanitary doctor of Moscow, the Patriarch's Vicar instructed that church services in the city diocese be held without public (laypeople). A similar decision was taken in St. Petersburg. As of 16 April 2020, according to RBK, 42 out of 85 federal subjects including Moscow, Moscow Oblast and Saint Petersburg, issued instructions to close places of worship for general public, which would extend into the Easter period, which in the Orthodox Church was to begin on 19 April. Equivocation and occasionally contradictory instructions issued by the Moscow Patriarchate's top officials undermined the authority of the Church's leadership while restrictive measures caused opposition on the part of conservative circles of the ROC's congregation.

Various Muslim communities closed their mosques. In Moscow, the Cathedral Mosque, the Old Mosque, and the Memorial Mosque on Poklonnaya Hill closed on 18 March. On 23 March, mosques in Crimea and Sevastopol were shut down. On the next day, all the mosques in Krasnodar Krai and Adygea were closed as well. Same measures were planned in Dagestan.

On 18 March, Rabbi Berel Lazar closed the Bolshaya Bronnaya Synagogue, Maryina Rosha Synagogue, and Zhukovka Jewish Centre. It was reported that 11 members of the community were hospitalized, with four COVID-19 cases confirmed, with the first one being a rabbi who felt sick after Purim celebration on 9 March. On 24 March, Rabbi Berel Lazar and the Federation of Jewish Communities recommended all the synagogues to close down and the community centres and Jewish schools to switch to distance education.