Coronavirus in Russia: The Latest News | Oct. 20

Oct. 20: What you need to know today

• Russia on Wednesday reported 34,073 new coronavirus cases and 1,028 deaths from Covid-19, another record number of daily fatalities.
• President Vladimir Putin announced a non-working week in Russia from Oct. 30-Nov. 7. Putin pleaded with Russians to get vaccinated and said the public holidays could be extended further if cases do not start to fall.
• Moscow will go into a strict lockdown if coronavirus infections continue to rise, according to a Moscow government order that was sent to businesses in the city Wednesday.
• Moscow’s mayor announced Tuesday plans to reintroduce remote work, mandatory vaccinations for service workers and other measures to slow the surging fourth wave of the coronavirus pandemic starting next week.
• Nationwide, 87% of hospital beds reserved for coronavirus patients are occupied, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova said Wednesday in a televised meeting with President Vladimir Putin.

Oct. 19

— Russia on Tuesday reported 33,740 new coronavirus cases and 1,015 deaths from Covid-19, a new record number of daily fatalities.

— Some 1,100 medical staff died from Covid-19 in Russia during the first six months of 2021, the chair of the State Duma’s budget committee said Tuesday. That is more than twice the number who succumbed to the virus in 2020, he added.

— Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has backed plans for a nationwide non-working week starting Oct. 30. The proposal was put forward by Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova during a televised government meeting Tuesday. Mishustin said the strict measures — effectively a paid vacation or orders for workers at non-essential businesses to stop going into their place of work — were “now necessary” given increased numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths. Golikova said some regions should introduce the non-working week earlier, on Oct. 23 and also called for unvaccinated pensioners to start self-isolating at home. President Vladimir Putin is expected to give formal approval to the plans Wednesday.

Oct. 18

— Russia on Monday reported a new record high number of coronavirus cases — 34,325 over the last 24 hours, taking the total toll since the start of the pandemic above 8 million. Officials also reported another 998 Covid-19 deaths.

— Russia’s second city, St. Petersburg, announced Monday it would tighten restrictions to battle a surge in Covid-19 cases, introducing a health pass to regulate access to crowd events.

— Moscow authorities will start fining public transport passengers whose face masks do not cover their nose and mouth, a transit official said Monday.

— South Africa’s health products regulator on Monday said it would not approve Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine due to concerns it could increase the risk of HIV infection among men. The decision was based on earlier studies testing the safety of a…