Putin urges to stay on guard to avoid reintroduction of curbs

Moscow, Sep 25 (IANS) Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged local officials to stay on guard in order to avoid the reintroduction of Covid-19 restrictions.

"Strict restrictions are being imposed again" in certain countries, "manufactures are being closed and so on", TASS news agency quoted Putin as saying on Thursday during a video conference with 20 newly elected regional governors.

"The situation (in Russia) is slightly better, indeed, though it is slightly better only because required measures are being taken in due time and efficiently.

"It would be highly, highly undesirable to return to restrictive measures that were imposed this spring, which is why testing should necessarily be ramped up, current requirements should be observed and a dialogue with people should be carried on," he added.

The fight against the coronavirus infection is not over yet, the president stated, adding that special attention should be paid to risk groups.

"The work related to fighting (Covid-19), the epidemic, is far from being complete. That is why we cannot allow for one problem to overlap another one, no matter what. Here, of course, special attention should be paid to risk groups," he said.

Putin noted that the number of new cases has grown slightly after the summer holiday season, with people gathering in large groups and many restrictions lifted, Xinhua news agency reported.

He said that the safety of people should be ensured with the advent of autumn, when flu and other contagious diseases worsen.

On Thursday, Russia reported 6,595 new cases, taking the national total to 1,128,836, the country's Covid-19 response centre said.

The country has witnessed a rise in daily infections since September 13, including in Moscow, the worst-hit area, where the daily tally of new cases has been growing steadily to above 1,000 again.