Moscow plays it safe by testing

LOCKDOWN: RESIDENTS WANT TO RETURN TO WORK

City worst affected as Russia boasts it carried out 6.6 million screenings.

Tucked away in a Moscow office block, the laboratory could pass unnoticed were it not for the line of people waiting, as Russia rolls out mass testing for the coronavirus.

While those in line are observing social distancing, they do not have symptoms of virus. They have come to the laboratory, part of a commercial chain called Gemotest that carries out a variety of medical tests, seeking confirmation they don’t have it.

“The lockdown is going to be relaxed in the next few weeks and

I will start my work again which requires close contact with my clients. I have to know what my state of health is,” says Ildar Giniyatullin, a 40-year-old masseur, as he waits for a nurse to take a saliva sample with a swab.

With more than 270 000 cases, Russia is currently in second place in the world and Moscow is the country’s worst-affected city.

The authorities say their strategy is mass screening of the population and boast of having carried out 6.6 million tests since the start of the pandemic.

The aim is to find people who test positive without symptoms, estimated to be just under half of those infected. The authorities also say the plan has helped keep down the mortality rate, which is remarkably low at less than 2 600 people, although critics have cast doubt on this figure.

Russians can use a number of ways to get tested, whether at a laboratory, at work or at home.

The internet giant Yandex offered a free testing service at home for a few weeks and says it tested 20 000 people. It has halted this service, saying free tests are now accessible elsewhere.

“The more people get tested, the easier it will be to halt the epidemic, also the economy will suffer less,” says Dmitry Gordeyev, a specialist in diagnosing infectious diseases at Gemotest.

While Moscow has extended its lockdown for most people to May 31, some sectors have been allowed to work, such as industry and construction.

Gemotest, which has branches across Moscow, offered people standard tests before the outbreak – a popular service as they work faster than state hospitals.

They weresupplied with kits by the research centre in Siberia, Vektor, which are classed as highly reliable. – AFP

Picture: AFP An employee prepares her luxury store at the Siam Paragon shopping mall as it reopened after restrictions to halt the spread of the spread of the coronavirus were lifted in Bangkok yesterday.