Moscow Starts Using Mobile Phones to Monitor Quarantine Compliance

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has instructed Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin to use the city’s mobile networks to monitor lockdown compliance, RBC reported.

A relevant order was published on the government’s website following a meeting of the Coordination Council on Coronavirus Response.

“Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has to ensure the monitoring of lockdown compliance in the city with the assistance of mobile operators and through the use of services available on the Moscow government’s website,” the document reads.

Moscow woke up to a mandatory lockdown on Monday, as the 12.5 million residents of the Russian capital were told to stay indoors in order to slow the spread of coronavirus.

The restrictions are some of the most severe in the city’s history, a near curfew with little precedent in peacetime. Red Square is empty, shopping malls are shuttered and downtown parks have been cordoned off, as Muscovites prepare to self-isolate for a month or longer. 

Russia has identified 2,337 coronavirus cases so far, 121 patients have recovered and 17 have died. Moscow accounts for the majority of cases (1,613). The Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the country’s people informed about the coronavirus situation.