By Thursday, April 16, the coronavirus had been detected in all regions of Russia, and in Bashkortostan the self-isolation regime was extended until the summer.
In Russia, the Victory Day parade was postponed in the past 24 hours due to the coronavirus, and the first infections among military personnel were announced.
Bashkortostan became the first region where the self-isolation regime was extended until the end of May, and the Altai Republic ceased to be the last region where no cases of the disease were registered.
On April 16, an infected woman was found there.
Meanwhile, Moscow decided to quarantine all patients with acute respiratory viral infections (ARVI), while Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin approved treatment of COVID-19 patients with an antimalarial drug.
The Russian service of the BBC provides more details about what happened.
In the evening of Wednesday, April 16, it became known from such sources as the BBC, RBC and Interfax that the parade dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Victory in World War Two (the Great Patriotic War) will not be held on May 9.
Russian veterans’ organizations had previously petitioned the president to postpone the celebration.
On Thursday, President Vladimir Putin announced the postponement of the parade, but did not give a new date, saying only that it would take place this year.
“We will push back the threat we faced today, and then we will definitely hold all the events planned for May 9,” the Interfax agency quoted Putin as saying.
It is believed that the parade could be held on June 24, the date of the 1945 parade under the command of Marshal Georgy Zhukov, or on September 3, the date of the end of World War II.
These dates were mentioned by the chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee, Vladimir Shamanov, in an interview with Interfax.
The editor-in-chief of the magazine “Arsenal Otechestva”, Viktor Murakhovskiy, noted that due to difficulties with the deployment of the military, it is more likely to be postponed until the fall.
In turn, on Thursday the Defense Ministry announced for the first time cases of coronavirus infection among military personnel.
The infection was diagnosed in 14 cadets and one civilian employee of the Tyumen Higher Military Engineering School.
It is noted that they are in normal condition, none of them has elevated temperature and there are no symptoms of respiratory organ diseases.
Tests on another 352 cadets came back negative, according to the Defense Ministry.
The cause of the infection was contact of one of the military personnel with civilians outside the school, noted in the department.
In Bashkortostan, on Thursday, the self-isolation regime was extended until the end of May.
The head of the region, Radiy Khabirov, did not rule out that it could be extended “even further into the summer”.
“You should prepare for the long term and encourage residents to do the same,” Khabirov said at the meeting with municipal leaders.
In addition, Khabirov decided to ban the use of public transportation in the region without gloves and masks.
According to the regional Ministry of Health, 191 cases of coronavirus infection have been registered in the republic, nine people have been discharged and six have died.
In the Altai Republic, which until recently had no registered cases of coronavirus, it was discovered on April 16 in a woman who had previously visited relatives in a neighboring region.
Since April 1, the region has been without air service to Moscow, flights to Novosibirsk and Krasnoyarsk have been limited, and interregional bus transportation has been cut in half.
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On Thursday, Moscow authorities announced that all city residents with acute respiratory viral infections (ARVI) and those living with them will receive a doctor’s prescription for a 14-day quarantine.
This means that if they go outside, they will be fined the same as people infected with the coronavirus.
All cases of acute respiratory viral infection (ARVI) in Moscow will be considered a basis for suspicion of coronavirus, such patients will be monitored as potential carriers of the virus, said Deputy Mayor of Moscow Anastasia Rakova.
The condition of patients will be monitored during telephone calls, said the operational headquarters.
Rakov described the epidemiological situation in Moscow as “tense”.
According to him, the virus is no longer present only among those who have arrived from other countries, but is “actively spreading within the city.”
On Thursday evening, it was announced that Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin had ordered the National Medical Research Center of Cardiology to provide free hydroxychloroquine to organizations treating COVID-19 patients.
The drug is used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, asthma and malaria.
This medicine has been included in a clinical trial led by the World Health Organization (WHO), which is collecting information from different countries on the effectiveness of different medicines in treating coronavirus.
The effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine has not yet been proven.
The Ministry of Health announced on Thursday that Russia is ready to participate in the randomized clinical trial conducted by the WHO.
On Thursday, April 16, 27.9 thousand cases of COVID-19 were recorded in 84 regions of Russia.
In the last 24 hours, another 3,448 people fell ill and 34 people died.