Russians to stay off work for a week as virus deaths rise

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin has ordered many of Russia’s workers to stay off work for a week starting later this month amid rising coronavirus infection and death numbers. Putin has also strongly urged reluctant citizens to get vaccinated. The government task force on Wednesday reported 1,028 coronavirus deaths over the past 24 hours. That’s the highest number since the start of the pandemic. That brought the total death toll to 226,353 which is by far the highest in Europe. Putin approved the Cabinet’s proposal to introduce a nonworking period starting Oct. 30 and extending through the following week when many businesses already are closed on four of the seven days due to a state holiday.