Russia may draw on military resources amid worsening COVID-19 situation: Putin

President Vladimir Putin says the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia is deteriorating and that Moscow may draw on the military resources to combat the contagious disease if necessary.

On Monday, the Russian leader made the remarks during an online meeting, broadcast on state television, with senior officials on the sanitary and epidemiological situation in the country, stressing that these circumstances were constantly changing and warning that the contagion has not yet reached its peak in Russia.

“We see that the situation is changing every day and, unfortunately, the number of infected people is increasing. There is an increasingly large number of cases with the severe form of the disease, precisely the severe form,” TASS news agency quoted him as saying.

The COVID-19 disease, caused by the new coronavirus, was transmitted from wildlife to people in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. It has affected 210 countries and territories across the globe. It has so far infected more than 1,889,060 people and killed over 117,600.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has already declared the outbreak a global pandemic.

Official figures by Russia’s Health Ministry shows that as of Monday, 18,328 people have tested positive for COVID-19 and 148 others have died.

The ministry on Monday also reported 2,558 new infections, the biggest daily increase so far.

During the meeting, Putin also stressed that the next few weeks would be very decisive in Russia’s battle.

“Therefore, all our actions, bearing in mind local preventive measures and the operation of the entire healthcare system, should be optimally structured, with ample reserve, as they say, and taking all factors into account,” he added.

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Elsewhere in his remarks, Putin said that military medics might also become involved in the battle across the Russian Federation.

Moscow, he said, could “tap all resources, namely the resources of the Russian Defense Ministry, if necessary.”

The president pointed out that what might be used from the military resources would be “just a small share of the Russian Defense Ministry’s capacity.” He said the main resources of the ministry were “on standby.”

Also on Monday, authorities in Moscow announced that they were issuing digital permits to decrease violations of the coronavirus lockdown.

Over 800,000 passes have already been issued to people planning to travel by car or public transport two days ahead of the system’s formal launch. Work passes would be valid until April 30, while passes secured to visit a doctor or go elsewhere would have to be renewed.

According to Moscow authorities, police patrols are tasked with checking such passes on the streets and can fine people for violations. Armed forces personnel, municipal officials and journalists, among others, are exempt.

They also say that – if needed – the digital permit system could be expanded to monitor people as they walk even within their neighborhood.

In Moscow, under lockdown since March 30, people are only permitted to leave their homes to walk their dogs, take out trash and visit their nearest shop.

'Social unrest' warning as Modi seeks to extend lockdown

Key industries are warning of social unrest unless India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi makes concessions when he announces any extension Tuesday to a three-week pandemic-lockdown for the country's 1.3 billion people.

The lockdown ends at midnight Tuesday, but several state chief ministers have already said they plan to extend it for at least two more weeks.

With time running out, the government has not laid out any national plan.

Modi, who is to make a nationwide address at 0430 GMT Tuesday, is caught between growing fears over the pandemic -- cases have surged in recent days to more than 9,150 with 308 deaths -- and the need to get the economy moving again.

Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta Das called the coronavirus an "invisible assassin" that could cause havoc with the economy.

The national restaurants association, which said its members employed seven million people, warned Monday there could be "social unrest" if it did not receive financial relief.

The government is considering making people stay at home in Delhi, Mumbai and other major cities while opening up rural parts of the country that have so far been relatively untainted by coronavirus, according to some reports.

Media have predicted it would be relaxed for key sectors such as agriculture.

With thousands of trucks carrying food and other essential produce being stuck at internal borders, the home ministry has already sent out new orders to states calling for better movement of essentials.

Farms, still the bedrock of the economy, are heading into their most important harvest time of the year with massive transport of crops that earn money to finance many villages for months.

The commerce ministry has also reportedly urged the government to consider opening more activities "with reasonable safeguards" even if the lockdown is extended.

The government has a long list of sectors which want to start work again.

The car industry, already hit by the economic slowdown, has been pressing to reopen factories.

The possibility of arranging staggered shifts for different sectors is also being considered by authorities as a way of cutting down contact between workers.

Economic growth slowed to about five percent in months ahead of the coronavirus crisis.

Now some analysts say growth could slump to 1.5-2.0 percent this year -- way below the minimum needed to provide jobs for the millions coming onto India's labor market each month.

Coronavirus deaths in the Netherlands increase to 2,823

The number of people who have died from the new coronavirus in the Netherlands has increased by 86 to 2,823, Dutch health authorities said on Monday.

The National Institute for Public Health said total confirmed coronavirus cases had increased by 964 to 26,551.

One in five Kazakhs seek state aid over COVID-19 emergency

Some 3.7 million Kazakhs, or 20 percent of the oil-exporting Central Asian nation’s population, have applied for financial aid offered by the government because of the novel coronavirus outbreak, the cabinet said on Monday.

Out of those applications, about 1.8 million have already been approved, said labor minister Birzhan Nurymbetov during a briefing.

South Korea set to ship coronavirus testing kits to US: Source

South Korea plans to send kits designed to run up to 600,000 coronavirus tests to the United States on Tuesday after an appeal from US President Donald Trump, a Seoul official said.

Trump made the request in a telephone call with President Moon Jae-in on March 25, as the United States was grappling with fast-growing outbreaks in many states.

South Korean companies have previously shipped test kits to U.S. cities including Los Angeles, but this would mark the first bulk order from the US federal government.

A US Federal Emergency Management Agency cargo plane carrying the equipment is scheduled to leave at 10:30 p.m. (1330 GMT) on Tuesday, the official said on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.

South Korea’s foreign minister Kang Kyung-wha confirmed the Reuters report in an interview on French news channel France 24, saying that contracts have been signed and the shipments will be “ready any time soon”.

The first shipments will be handed over to and paid for by the US government, the official told Reuters.

An additional package of kits that can conduct as many as 150,000 tests will be exported in the near future and will be sold through an unspecified local retailer, the official said.

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) kits will be sourced from three companies that secured preliminary approval late last month from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to export kits to the United States, the official said.

He declined to name the two companies that will provide the shipments on Tuesday.

However, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said, on condition of anonymity, that one of the two firms is Osang Healthcare and the company will provide kits for 300,000 tests.

Calls to Osang Healthcare for a comment were not answered.

Once struggling with the first large outbreak outside China, South Korea has largely managed to bring its coronavirus cases under control without major disruptions thanks to a massive testing campaign and intensive contact tracing.

(Source: Agencies)

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