Russians can stay home until the end of April: President Vladimir Putin has extended the paid non-working period for another three weeks.
In his address to the nation yesterday, Vladimir Putin spoke about the situation with COVID-19 in Russia. As he noted, “The nationwide non-work week as well as the self-isolation regime declared in many regions made it possible for us to gain time to take preventive action, to mobilize all the government bodies and to increase the healthcare system’s resources to counter the epidemic as effectively as possible using our own experience and the best practices from other countries.”
He voiced his decision “to prolong the official non-work period until the end of the month, or through April 30”, in order to stop the spread of the virus, since “the trend has not been reversed yet despite the measures taken by the authorities. Therefore, restrictions should be tightened in some regions.”
At the same time, Vladimir Putin added, if the situation permits, the duration of the announced period of days off may be adjusted.
He also noted, “As we implement measures to combat the epidemic, we must not forget that it is just as important to preserve jobs and incomes.”