The Russian government has banned state purchases of medical masks from countries other than the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) until December 31, 2021.

The corresponding decree of the Cabinet of Ministers was published on the official portal of legal information.

“To establish that the prohibitions established by paragraphs 1 and 2 of this resolution (the prohibition on admitting imported goods to public procurement and procurement for defense and security needs, respectively. -

RT

), in relation to the medical masks specified in paragraphs 123 and 126 of the list, are valid until December 31, 2021 ", - stated in the text of the resolution.

It is noted that the document makes changes to the list of products specified in the resolution adopted in April 2020 - in particular, the list includes "medical products, including surgical, others not included in other groups (only in relation to medical masks)" (paragraph 123) and “head and face protection (only for medical masks)” (paragraph 126).

Note that earlier the Ministry of Industry and Trade made a corresponding proposal.

In November, the department prepared a government decree, which dealt with the prohibition of public procurement of medical masks from countries other than the EAEU.

It was understood that the corresponding additions will be made to the list of admission of imported goods, which are allowed for public procurement, prepared in April.

In addition, in November, the head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Denis Manturov commented on the situation with the production of masks in Russia, noting that "the current increased demand is met by enterprises operating in a regular mode, and can quickly increase volumes if necessary."

He cited data according to which the maximum daily production of more than 20 million masks, 500 thousand respirators, 220 thousand protective suits and 380 thousand liters of antiseptics are calculated.

Subsequently, Vladimir Putin praised the mobilization of resources in the fight against coronavirus in Russia.

In this regard, the head of state also mentioned personal protective equipment.

According to the president, in Russia "in some areas, the increase in production did not occur in percent - at times, or even dozens of times."

“This applies, for example, to protective suits.

I'm not talking about masks, there are dozens of times too, ”Putin said.

The situation with coronavirus in Russia

According to the latest data, there are 3,021,964 cases of coronavirus in 85 regions in Russia.

During the day, 29,258 new cases of coronavirus were detected.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 2,426,439 people have recovered in the Russian Federation.

54,226 people died from complications that developed against the background of coronavirus infection and concomitant diseases.

According to Rospotrebnadzor, by December 26, over 88.6 million laboratory tests for a new type of coronavirus infection were performed in the Russian Federation.

654,275 people remain under medical supervision.

Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Health approved the Sputnik V drug for vaccination of people over 60 years old, said the head of the department, Mikhail Murashko.

With this decision in mind, the vaccine can be used for people aged 18 and over.

The developers of the drug noted that "Sputnik V" showed an efficiency of over 90% for the age group over 60 years old.

BREAKING: Russia's Ministry of Health approved Sputnik V for 60+ population following clinical trials that showed complete safety and efficacy over 90% in this age group.

#SputnikV also fully protected from any severe cases in this and other age groups.https: //t.co/2XUaHpbgs3

- Sputnik V (@sputnikvaccine) December 26, 2020

Sputnik V also offers complete protection against severe cases for this and other age groups, "reads a Twitter post.

COVID-19 in the world

According to the World Health Organization, 78.3 million cases of coronavirus have been recorded in the world.

1.7 million people died from the consequences of the disease.

In turn, Johns Hopkins University reported that the number of confirmed cases of the virus exceeded 80 million.

A new strain of coronavirus, recorded earlier in the UK, has already been noted in more than ten countries.

We will remind that earlier the UK authorities announced the discovery of two new strains of coronavirus.

At the same time, it was noted that both new variants of SARS-CoV-2 are more infectious and therefore spread faster than the "original".

Against the background of this situation, the Japanese government decided to introduce a temporary ban on the entry of people from all countries of the world into the country.

The corresponding decision will be in effect from December 28 to the end of January next year.

Meanwhile, Hungary became the first country in the EU to start vaccinating the population against COVID-19.

Doctors will be the first to undergo this procedure.