COVID-19: 80 Russian regions declare state of high alert over coronavirus

As many as 80 out of 85 Russian regions have declared a state of high alert over the coronavirus, as can be seen from official statements, according to Tass.

Three federal cities — Moscow, St. Petersburg and Sevastopol — have declared a state of high alert, as well as all regions in the Far East, Siberia, the Urals, the Volga River basin, the country’s south and northwest. The Oryol and Tver regions in central Russia, and three out of seven regions in North Caucasus (the Ingushetia and Karachay-Circassian regions and Chechnya) have not yet declared the regime.

A state of high alert means that all public events will be postponed and the number of people participating in authorized events will be reduced. In addition, people are recommended to refrain from traveling abroad, while employers are obliged to keep personnel with symptoms of infectious disease from coming to work. Schools and universities have moved to remote learning.

While over 22,000 are reportedly under surveillance, there are 147 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Russia as of March 18.

Globally, over 210,000 people have been infected with the virus and about 8,600 have died.

The World Health Organisation in March officially declared COVID-19 as a pandemic. The disease has spread to over 140 countries since it was first reported in late December 2019 by the Chinese authorities of an outbreak of a SARS-like Virus in the city of Wuhan, central China.

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