The measures taken to combat the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia ensure that no new restrictions are introduced so far, including a lockdown or interregional travel restrictions, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday, commenting on the statement by Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko, who said that there may be a discussion of restricting domestic travel due to hotbeds of the virus in Russian regions, TASS reported.
“There is a prevailing opinion that the current level of organization of counteracting [the pandemic] and ensuring that people get access to medical services is enough to avoid introducing lockdowns, shutting down travel between regions or switching off the economy. We still think that there is no need for this,” Peskov said.
He reminded that regional heads have a special mandate to introduce COVID-19 measures.
“Regional heads are free to use this mandate, naturally, in accordance with the governmental commission, to approve urgent and efficient measures to combat the spread of the infection,” the spokesman said.
Earlier on Monday, Russian Health Ministry Aide Alexey Kuznetsov informed that the health minister’s statement on potential restrictions on interregional travel were part of a report at the conference “Medicine and Quality 2020” in a review of measures used in the world to combat COVID-19 or that may be used to curb the spread of infection. The aide noted that the statement was taken out of context.
