Rustam Minnikhanov: In general, the coronavirus situation is under control in Tatarstan

On April 20, Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov had an online meeting on the prevention of the spread of the new coronavirus in the republic.

Head of Tatarstan Department of Rospotrebnadzor (Federal Service for Supervision of Consumers Protection) Marina Patyashina reported that to date, the total number of coronavirus patients has amounted to 230 people in Tatarstan. An increase in the number of cases occurred at the sites when one case spreads among employees and then in their families. Such sites were recorded in several enterprises of the republic.

She noted that the situation with coronavirus is also tense in the regions neighboring with Tatarstan. Patyashina suggested limiting the involvement of employees from other regions as much as possible.

She added that during the period of self-isolation a number of enterprises continue their work. All of them received the relevant instructions. “If the company impeccably fulfills all the prescribed measures, then there should not be any spread of infection. However, in practice, it turns out that the desire to get a work permit is higher than the motivation to fulfill everything prescribed,” she said. Addressing  sanitary doctors in cities and regions of the republic, Patyashina urged them to intensify work and to require strict compliance with measures to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Protection of Tatarstan Elmira Zaripova said that currently there are 45 stationary organizations in the republic, including 3 centres of social adaptation for people without a fixed place of residence, 8 shelters, 8 psychoneurological residential care facilities and 26 residential homes for elderly people. As many as 5,027 people live in these facilities. In order to prevent the spread of coronavirus, all facilities are transferred to the self-isolation mode together with the staff for a month. The Minister said that all institutions will be provided with the necessary supply of products, personal protective equipment and disinfection.

The Minister of Health of the republic Marat Sadykov reported that over the past week, the number of cases has increased by more than 20 per cent, while 95 per cent of cases are because of contacts with the infected ones. In order to reduce the circle of contacts, the minister asked to study the issue of providing the health workers who treat coronavirus patients in hospitals with comfortable conditions for organizing accommodation and meals. This work has already been organized in Kazan and Almetyevsk.

Minister of Internal Affairs of Tatarstan Artem Khokhorin reported on the work of law enforcement agencies. He said that since April 14, work has been organized to find out places of residence of those people who arrived from Moscow and St. Petersburg, and to check how they observe self-isolation mode. Over the past week, over 1,500 such citizens arrived in the republic.

Summing up the meeting,  Minnikhanov noted that in general the coronavirus situation is under control in the republic.