Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the government's proposal to declare a week-long holiday in the country in response to the growing number of COVID-19 cases.
Ahead of Putin's announcement, Moscow's mayor also ordered all unvaccinated seniors to stay at home for four months to prevent the further spread of the deadly virus. Unvaccinated individuals suffering from chronic illnesses regardless of their age are also required to stay home until the end of February 2022.
According to reports, Russia just reported its highest number of daily cases and fatalities due to COVID-19.
Russians refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19
Experts blame the government's lagging vaccination program since only 30 percent of Russia's total population has been vaccinated.
There is also a growing distrust of the authorities and the information they broadcast about the vaccines, which is why people are discouraged from getting the jab. The irony of the situation is that Russia has four domestic vaccines available.
"I think the country is now falling into disaster. I have hope we will soon come to a certain limit beyond which we will not go, but this is still very high morbidity and mortality. Hospitals are overwhelmed," Vasily Vlassov, a Russian epidemiologist and former WHO adviser, told CNN.
COVID-19 task force may not be disclosing accurate figures
Vlassov also said that there's a growing concern that Russia's official figures do not reflect the accurate scale of its public health emergency. After all, individuals who die from respiratory failure from COVID-19 are included in the statistics as someone who didn't die from the virus.
Russia's counting method of casualties does not include part of the deaths in the official statistics saying that someone died with COVID-19 but not because of it.
According to ABC News, Russia just set another daily record for COVID-19-related deaths on Tuesday. The country's coronavirus task force reported 39,008 new confirmed cases and 1,178 deaths four days after ordering Russians to stay at home.
Regional governments may extend the lockdown
This week, Putin also told local governments in Russian regions may add more non-working holidays if they feel the need to do so. But the president's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, denied the rumors that the non-working period could be extended for the entire country.
Peskov said that regional governments are encouraged to make their own decisions based on their number of active COVID-19 active cases.
On Monday, Russia's Novgorod region announced that they could extend the non-working holiday for at least another week. The Tomsk region in Siberia and the Chelyabinsk region in the Ural Mountains followed suit two days later, according to Click 2 Houston.
Americans discouraged from traveling to Russia, Belgium
Meanwhile, Russia and Belgium have just been included in the list of countries that Americans shouldn't consider visiting.
According to USA Today, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk. Reports revealed that Russia had had the third-highest number of COVID-19 cases globally in the last 28 days.
Related Article: Russian Government Refuses To Impose State-Wide Lockdown Following Reports of Over 1,000 Deaths In the Past 24 Hours Due to COVID-19
