Russia to ease lockdown despite record rise in Covid-19 cases

President Vladimir Putin has announced that Russia can start easing lockdown restrictions from Tuesday, despite being Europe's latest hotspot for the coronavirus outbreak and registering a record rise in new cases on Monday.

He said regional leaders across Russia would decide how quickly to lift measures on their territory, as 11,656 new Covid-19 infections took the national total to 221,344 – the fourth-highest figure in the world.

“From May 12th, the uniform period of non-working days for the whole country and for all sectors of the economy is ending. But the fight with the epidemic is not ending. It is still dangerous, even in regions where the situation is relatively favourable,” Mr Putin said during a televised video conference with governors.

“Regional leaders, guided by analysis of the situation and the view of chief doctors, will decide on the type of restrictions and how and in what order they can gradually be relaxed or continued or – if the situation demands it – perhaps even supplemented,” he added.

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‘Basic sectors’

Moscow, which has been hardest hit by Russia’s Covid-19 outbreak, has announced that most restrictions will continue until the end of May, and Mr Putin said it was essential the lockdown be lifted “gradually, carefully, step-by-step”.

At the same time, however, he said that from Tuesday “wherever possible, conditions must be created for work to resume in the basic sectors of the economy”, listing construction, industry, farming, energy and communications among the areas he had in mind.

Mr Putin announced more financial aid for Russians and said the official number of unemployed people in the country had doubled to 1.4 million due to the crisis. Russia’s economy has also suffered from a sharp fall in world oil prices.

Critics accuse Mr Putin and his government of doing too little to help private businesses and their employees weather the crisis, and of failing to provide safe working conditions for all medics.

Russia's official data is also coming under scrutiny: it has registered about the same number of Covid-19 cases as Britain and Italy but just 2,009 deaths from the virus – compared to more than 30,000 in each of the other two countries.

Bars and restaurants

The pandemic took hold in Russia several weeks after striking countries such as Spain, where restrictions were eased for about half the 47 million population on Monday.

Under the second phase of a four-step plan for reopening the economy, small shops were allowed to resume trading, and bars and restaurants could welcome customers to outdoor seating areas, as long as distancing measures were applied.

Stricter rules remain in place in Madrid, Barcelona and other Spanish cities most badly affected by Covid-19, which has claimed 26,744 lives nationwide.

The Czech Republic has reported just 281 deaths from the virus and is one of Europe's leaders in exiting lockdown.

On Monday, it reopened beer gardens, cinemas, some schools and shopping centres, albeit under strict hygiene and capacity rules. The Czech government also allowed international bus and rail travel to resume, but routes are likely to remain very limited for some time due to restrictions in neighbouring states.