RUSSIALINK: “Kremlin says not planning state of emergency over Covid-19” – Interfax

(Interfax – April 1, 2020)

Russia is not planning to declare a state of emergency over the outbreak of the Covid-19 coronavirus, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said.

“No, this is not being discussed,” Interfax news agency quoted Peskov saying on 1 April, though it was later reported that President Putin had issued an order giving the government the right to declare a state of emergency.

Interfax also quoted the head of the consumer watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, saying that unlike a number of other countries Russia was not witnessing an “explosive” rise in cases.

“We can see a whole range of countries in which the developments are extremely unfavourable, where there is an explosive increase, an exponential increase [in the number of cases]. The Russian Federation at present does not have an explosive increase. We have for several days running had the same increase coefficient, 1.2,” she said.

Popova said “a whole range of measures” were being taken to rein in the outbreak.

She also suggested that the non-working week from 30 March to 5 April announced by Vladimir Putin should be extended and last more than 14 days, though she added that the results of the measures now being taken were already visible.

[featured image is file photo from another occasion]