Russia 15.04.2020 is using the latest technology to keep track of residents. City officials are using a giant network of tens of thousands of cameras - installed with facial recognition software - which they plan to couple with digital passes on people’s mobile phones. It has prompted concern about whether such widespread surveillance will ever be rolled back. is using high tech surveillance system. These camera works in real time scanning people’s faces and sending instant alerts to the police. All the alerts from these cameras are instant. In addition, the software can detect social distancing and it is even effective with facemasks on.

Soon a system that will send a code on ones mobile phones to go out for groceries and chemists is likely to be implemented

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-europe-52157131/coronavirus-russia- uses-facial-recognition-to-tackle-covid-19

13.04.2020 Russia faced its first Corona case on 31 January 2020. Early prevention measures included restricting the border with and extensive testing. After the infection spread from Italy on 2 March, events were cancelled, schools, theatres and museums were closed, Chinese border were shut and non-working period was declared. By the end of March, lockdowns were imposed in the vast majority of federal subjects, including Moscow. As on 12 April, there have been 15,770 confirmed cases in Russia, 1,291 recoveries, 130 deaths and over 1.2 million tests performed. As on date Russia is testing 8223 persons per million for corona, which is a good testing average. Chronological study of cases and measures taken by RUSSIA may be seen as under:-

Preventive Measures taken by the Government before the first case reported:-

 Imposing quarantines, carrying raids on potential virus carriers and using facial recognition to impose quarantine measures.  Banning the export of medical masks, random checks on the Moscow Metro, and cancellation of large-scale events by schools.  Preventing foreign citizens from heavily affected countries from visiting Russia.  The Russian consumer health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor advised tourists to refrain from visiting Wuhan and stay away from Chinese zoos and markets selling animals and seafood.  On 23 January, the Russian city of , near the Chinese border, limited access to the country. Cultural exchange and official visits to China were cancelled. The Governors of the Oblast Vasily Orlov, and of the Ivan Belozertsev, called on residents to abandon trips to China altogether. Residents of large cities were told to avoid contact with tourists from China.

Chronological measures taken after the first case reporting:- Date Cases and Measures taken 31.01.2020 2 cases were confirmed, one in Tyumen, another in Chita, Zabaykalsky Krai. Both were Chinese nationals, who have since recovered. 05.02.2020 144 Russians were evacuated from Wuhan, the initial centre of the outbreak, and were quarantined in Tyumen Oblast for two weeks. 20.02.2020 Entry of Chinese citizens was banned. The temporary suspension is for Chinese citizens entering Russia for employment, private, educational and tourist purposes. 23.02.2020 8 Russians from the cruise ship Diamond Princess were evacuated to , where they were hospitalised, including 3 confirmed cases. These eight people, including the three patients who recovered, were discharged from hospital on 8 March. 28.02.2020 Some of Russia's citizens abroad were confirmed to be infected. A Russian man tested positive in Azerbaijan after he had visited Iran. While some days later the Health ministry of the UAE announced that two Russians got the virus in United Arab Emirates.

Moscow announced that it would deport 88 foreigners for allegedly violating quarantine measures.

Russia barred Iranian citizens from entering Russia and said it would also restrict the entry of South Korean citizens from 1 March.

Flights between Russia and South Korea are suspended, except for those operated by and Aurora.[89] 04.03.2020 Russia temporarily banned the export of medical masks, gloves, bandages and protective suits.

Russia suspended its train service from Moscow to Nice, France.

Aeroflot suspended flights to and from Hong Kong since 9 March. 13.03.2020 Flights to and from Italy, Germany, France and Spain are limited.

Russia also stopped issuing tourist visas to Italian citizens and closed the border to Italian citizens and foreigners coming from Italy. 15.03.2020 Ministry of Education and Ministry of Science and Higher Education recommended regions to adopt distance learning if it becomes necessary.

Land borders with Norway and Poland were closed to all foreigners.

Russian Railways announced it would stop passenger trains from Moscow to Berlin and Paris.

Earlier it was announced that train connections to and from , Moldova and Latvia would be suspended because those countries had closed their borders. 16.03.2020 Flights to and from the , Norway and Switzerland were limited to regular flights between capital cities ( in the case of Switzerland) and Moscow Sheremetyevo , and charter flights.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin announced that the border with Belarus has been closed for the movement of people and an entry ban for foreigners will be imposed from 18 March to 1 May. 17.03.2020 On 17 March, Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Russian embassies and consulates had stopped issuing all types of visas, including e- visas, with exceptions for diplomats, people attending funerals and transit passengers. 19.03.2020 Russian Government reported the following data:- More than 55 thousand beds for infectious cases were deployed, including more than 12 thousand intensive care units and 396 observatories.

7.5 thousand Melzer boxes were prepared.

Medical organizations have more than 40 thousand devices for artificial lung ventilation, 124 devices for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).

The government of the Russian Federation has allocated resources for the additional purchase of more than 500 devices, including 17 ECMO devices.

6 thousand infectious diseases doctors and almost 2 thousand pulmonologists, more than 18 thousand nurses are ready to provide medical assistance.

Russia's Chief Sanitary Doctor Anna Popova required all people arriving from abroad to undergo a two-week self-isolation.

Russian courts stopped considering all but most urgent cases because of the pandemic until 10 April. 21.03.2020 Russia delivered over 100,000 test kits to 13 countries, including Armenia, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Serbia, Egypt, Venezuela, Iran, and North Korea. 22.03.2020 After a phone call with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Russian president arranged the Russian army to send medical help to Italy. 23.03.2020 Russia restricted air travel from all over the world, except for certain flights from Moscow to major capitals, and charter flights intended to move foreign citizens to their respective countries and Russian nationals back to Russia, until everyone is evacuated. 24.03.2020 Russian government adopted a number of decisions, including an instruction to regional authorities to suspend activities of any night clubs, cinemas, children's entertainment centres, and to ban hookah smoking at any restaurants or cafes.

The Central Bank recommended all the banks to keep the money for 3–4 days before giving it to clients or loading it into ATMs, and to restrict usage of cash recycling ATMs. 25.03.2020 Russian government loosened the travel ban to allow the entry for relatives of Russian citizens.

President Putin, in a televised address to the nation, announced that the 2020 Russian constitutional referendum would be postponed due to the coronavirus.

He added that the next week would be a nationwide paid holiday and urged Russians to stay at home. Putin also announced a list of measures of social protection, support for small and medium- sized enterprises, and changes in fiscal policy. 27.03.2020 All regular and charter international flights were suspended except for those aimed at bringing Russians home.

On the same day, Airport refused to receive passengers without permanent or temporary registration in .

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin ordered all reservations at pensions or holiday houses to be cancelled from 28 March to 1 June, recommended regional authorities to close all the pistes at resorts for the same period, instructed them to force all the public eating places (except for delivery services) to suspend activities from 28 March to 5 April, and recommended that citizens refrain from travelling.

Ministry of Education announced the postponement of the Unified State Exam from the end of May to the beginning of June. 28.03.2020 Russian government decided to close all automobile, railway, to pedestrian, river, or other border checkpoints, including on 30.03.2020 the Belarus border, with exceptions similar to that of the air travel restrictions. The ban must be enforced on 30 March.

Following a request from the Government of Moscow, BlaBlaCar carpooling service decided to suspend its activities across Russia starting from 30 March. 31.03.2020 Federal Assembly approved a law allowing the executive cabinet to declare a state of emergency on its own. Previously, only a commission led by the Minister of Emergency Situations could do that. 01.04.2020 Prime Minister Mishustin and the Minister of Communications Maxut Shadayev announced creating a system of tracking quarantine violation based on data of mobile network operators. Violators will receive a text message, and if they breach it systematically, the information will be sent to the police. 02.04.2020 President Putin extended the non-working period to 30 April. 09.04.2020 Russia passed the 1 million test mark and in addition to the laboratories of Rospotrebnadzor, 200 state medical laboratories and 22 private laboratories are carrying out testing. There is a drive to further expand testing with any laboratory being able to carry out tests by submitting a notification to the central website.