Moscow entered its first day of indefinite confinement on Monday, March 30. Several other Russian regions have announced that they will do the same, after a call from the Prime Minister, to try to halt the progress of the Covid-19 in Russia.

President Vladimir Putin had avoided ordering such confinement, declaring the period from March 28 to April 5 unemployed and calling on the Russians to stay "at home".

But the mayor of the capital, Sergei Sobianin, finally decided Sunday evening to restrict the movement of its citizens, especially because on Saturday and Sunday, the Muscovites took advantage in number of the arrival of spring in the parks of the city, did not not due to requests for social distancing from the authorities.

At early morning rush hour on Monday, downtown Moscow was almost deserted by pedestrians. However, many passenger cars were still in operation, according to an AFP journalist, but the traffic was much less chaotic and congested than it usually was at the time.

Facial recognition to fight the Covid-19

The estimated 12 to 16 million Muscovites are allowed to leave their homes to go to work, to medical emergencies, and to the nearest supermarket or pharmacies.

They also have the right to take out the trash and their dog within 100 m of their home. Similar measures have been decreed in the region surrounding the capital. Special permits will soon be issued to those who will be exempt from the containment requirement.

In Moscow, compliance with confinement must be monitored using an "intelligent surveillance system", namely its network of facial recognition cameras already used to monitor people placed in solitary confinement.

Prime Minister Mikhail Michoustin called on the other regions to prepare "similar measures" and to impose them if necessary. Russia has officially registered 1,534 cases of infection and eight deaths. Two-thirds of the patients are in Moscow.

With AFP

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