Press Release, 24.03.2020

Yaroslav Shcherbakov, Chairman of the Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko, sent an appeal to the Governor of the Chelyabinsk region about the need to introduce quarantine in the schools of the region. The reason for the appeal was the exceeding of epidemic thresholds in 19 municipalities of the Chelyabinsk region (including the regional centre). A total of 14,777 cases of acute respiratory viral infections and influenza were registered in Chelyabinsk, the rate was 123 per 10,000 people, which is 23 per cent higher than last week.

“In the current situation, we believe that it is necessary to immediately introduce quarantine in all the schools of the Chelyabinsk region, and modern educational technologies allow us to introduce distance learning. Seven residents of the South Urals have already received laboratory confirmation of coronavirus. Thus, pupils in schools with free admission are at high risk, as they continue to move around the city and study indoors. At the same time, many parents cannot provide their children with the necessary means of protection because of their absence in shops and pharmacies,” says Yaroslav Shcherbakov.

It should be noted that according to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of people infected with the new coronavirus exceeded 330,000 in the world. As of 23 March, 438 cases were officially recorded in Russia.