MOSCOW, April 22. /TASS/: The overwhelming majority of Moscow Region’s residents adhere to the self-isolation measures introduced to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), Governor of the Moscow Region Andrei Vorobyev said on Rossiya-24 channel on Tuesday.
"Statistical data shows that the majority of people are adhering to the self-isolation regime. <…> We are working on it, trying to convince people that it is important and necessary currently," he stated.
The governor noted that the self-isolation regime "helps contain the exponential increase in new cases." "Due to the fact that people are staying home, the activity [of the virus] has decreased. The growth rate reaches 12-14-15% day to day, it needs to drop to less than 10%. We need to reach a point when the number of those discharged would at least equal the number of those newly infected. So far, the balance is negative, we are hospitalizing more people," Vorobyev said.
Starting March 29, the Moscow Region has introduced a regime of total self-isolation along with Moscow. As of March 15, Moscow and the Moscow Region have introduced a system of digital permits for residents.
In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.
On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 2,484,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 170,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 652,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.
To date, a total of 52,763 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 3,873 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 456 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.
