Central Moscow was deserted on Saturday on the first weekend after Russian President Vladimir Putin extended a national holiday in Russia until April 30. Moscow, the epicentre of the country’s outbreak, has been in lockdown since Monday and many regions across the country have since imposed similar measures.
Russia on Friday said it is temporarily suspending all flights in and out of the country from midnight, including those for repatriating citizens, to limit the possibility of a new wave of coronavirus infections.
The country’s coronavirus operational centre said the suspension applied to all charter flights bringing Russians home and taking foreign citizens away and that those wishing to fly will have to fill out a special form, which will be available from Saturday.
The government said it had allocated 500 million roubles ($6.5 million) to the foreign ministry to pay for the temporary stay of those citizens stranded abroad.
Russia, which has reported 4 149 cases of the coronavirus and 34 deaths, suspended all regular international flights on March 27 but had said that flights for repatriating citizens would continue.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said 25 000 Russians abroad had appealed for help getting home, with many still stranded as measures to curb the spread of coronavirus have limited travel options.
An Aeroflot flight from Moscow to New York was cancelled on Friday after passengers had boarded the plane, despite assurances given earlier in the day given that it would go ahead, the United States (US) embassy in Moscow said in a message to passengers seen by Reuters.
The embassy said that despite assurances, Russia had ordered cancellations without warning.
“At this point, we do not believe any international flights will be departing from the Russian Federation until further notice,” the embassy said.
In the video below, Russia talks tough on self-isolation lawbreakers:
A Reuters correspondent, with a ticket to New York on Saturday, received a message on Friday night saying the flight had been cancelled.
Passengers on the Friday night flight to New York were only told after boarding that it had been cancelled, US citizen Elena Salomatina said.
“At the moment we don’t know what to do because Aeroflot, they haven’t even given us water. There’s nowhere for us to go, we have no home, home is in America. For now I don’t know what to do,” she said.
Aeroflot declined to comment.
IMF warns that the World’s economic woes will worsen
The coronavirus pandemic has brought the global economy to a standstill and plunged the world into a recession that will be “way worse” than the global financial crisis a decade ago, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Friday, calling it “humanity’s darkest hour.”
The IMF’s managing director Kristalina Georgieva, speaking at a rare joint news conference with the leader of the World Health Organization (WHO), called on advanced economies to step up their efforts to help emerging markets and developing countries survive the economic and health impact of the pandemic.
This is, in my lifetime, humanity's darkest hour and a big threat to the whole world. What is required from us is to stand tall, be united and protect the most vulnerable of our fellow citizens on this planet. https://t.co/HNayWDUpXP #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/Hf6EmbJ510
— Kristalina Georgieva (@KGeorgieva) April 4, 2020
“This is a crisis like no other,” she told some 400 reporters on a video conference call. “We have witnessed the world economy coming to a standstill. We are now in recession. It is way worse than the global financial crisis of 2008-2009.”
World Bank President David Malpass echoed her outlook in a post on LinkedIn, writing, “Beyond the health impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic, we are expecting a major global recession.”
The @WorldBank Group is working to strengthen developing nations’ ability to respond to the #COVID19 pandemic & shorten the time to economic and social recovery.
On @LinkedIn, I have summarized some of our activities over the last week:https://t.co/A3x5eS86lj
— David Malpass (@DavidMalpassWBG) April 3, 2020
More than 1 million people worldwide have been infected with COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, and more than 53 000 have died, a Reuters tally showed on Friday.
Georgieva said the IMF was working with the World Bank and WHO to advance their call for China and other official bilateral creditors to suspend debt collections from the poorest countries for at least a year until the pandemic subsides.
She said China had engaged “constructively” on the issue, and the IMF would work on a specific proposal in coming weeks with the Paris Club of creditor nations, the Group of 20 major economies and the World Bank for review at the annual Spring Meetings, which will be held online in about two weeks.
In his posting, Malpass said a debt standstill could begin on May 1, providing added liquidity for the poorest countries as they battle the disease. During the suspension period, he said, the World Bank and the IMF could evaluate the sustainability of those countries’ debt and the possible need for a debt reduction by official creditors and commercial creditors.
Emerging markets and developing economies have been hard hit by the crisis, Georgieva said, noting that nearly $90 billion in investments had already flowed out of emerging markets, far more than during the financial crisis. Some countries are also suffering from sharp drops in commodity prices.
More than 90 countries – nearly half the IMF’s 189 members -have asked for emergency funding from the IMF to respond to the pandemic, she said.
The IMF and WHO have called for emergency aid to be used mainly to strengthen health systems, pay doctors and nurses, and buy protective gear.
Georgieva said the IMF stood ready to use as much of its “war chest” of $1 trillion in financing capability as needed.
The IMF has begun disbursing funds to requesting countries, including Rwanda, with requests from two additional African nations to be reviewed on Friday, she said. “This is, in my lifetime, humanity’s darkest hour – a big threat to the whole world – and it requires from us to stand tall, be united, and protect the most vulnerable of our fellow citizens,” she said.
Below is a Live Tracking of the cases, death toll and other information, updated daily:
