The meeting was held via video conference.
Mikhail Mishustin’s opening remarks:
Meeting of the Presidium of the Government Coordination Council to control the incidence of novel coronavirus infection in the Russian Federation
Good afternoon, colleagues.
I would like to start with holiday greetings. Today we are marking Social Worker’s Day. This is a noble job for kind and courageous people. Being a social worker is not easy. People under your care require continuous help and support; they wait for you to bring them medication, groceries and sometimes simply to call and check up on them. Of course, now, during the coronavirus outbreak, your work, along with the work of medical workers, deserves special and most sincere gratitude.
The state offers support for social workers and employees of residential social service institutions as well as those who take in people with disabilities, older people, parentless children and children deprived of parental care, who provide them with necessary care at home. This is why earlier the President made a decision to award additional benefits to workers of residential care facilities. Social workers will receive 35,000 roubles if they work at facilities with confirmed COVID-19 cases and 25,000 roubles at facilities with no confirmed cases. Once again, I would like to say thank you for your hard work.
Now let’s move on to the results of our work against the spread of the coronavirus. As of 8 June, the number of new cases across the country has not been over 2 percent for six consecutive days. Of course, the situation differs region to region and in some the mortality rate has increased slightly. As for Moscow, the city that faced this problem first and has the largest number of COVID-19 cases, the growth rate is below the national average at only 1 percent.
There have been positive developments if we look at the range of other indicators, including the scope of testing. Almost 12.5 million tests have been conducted. It is noteworthy that Russia has registered 40 different test kits and more than half of them were developed in this country.
Another indicator has stabilised, which is the hospitalisation rate. Hospital bed space remains available. Therefore, clinics are starting to return to normal operation. Of course, we continue to monitor every area. People are still facing risks. We need to stay vigilant in order to promptly respond to any emergency.
Back in March, we restricted entry to Russia for foreign nationals and foreign travel for the majority of Russians, to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. However, we understand that people may have different life circumstances. It is important for many people to be in our country right now – they may need to help sick family members, for example. Others, on the contrary, need to leave for various serious reasons. The Government has received many appeals concerning this issue. So we are changing the restrictions to support the people who must travel. A Government resolution has been signed that will enable Russian citizens to travel abroad to take care of their sick relatives who live in other countries, or travel for study and work. Russians who require medical treatment in a foreign country will also be allowed to travel.
Entering Russia will only be allowed for foreign nationals who are to undergo treatment at a Russian medical institution. Single entry will be permitted for those who have close relatives, legal guardians or caregivers here in need of personal care.
Colleagues, we are gradually returning to the issues that were put aside because of the coronavirus. One of the most important issues is the Unified State Exam (EGE) in schools.
We are introducing special regulations to ensure students’ health safety as much as possible. The President also covered this matter at a meeting on the current state of the education system.
This year, we are separating final certification and the Unified State Exam.
All ninth- and eleventh-grade students will be awarded certificates without exams. Those who want to continue their studies in vocational colleges will be enrolled based on the marks in their certificates. Graduates who plan to get a higher education will be able to take the EGE. More than 736,000 students plan to do this.
A mock exam will take place on 29 and 30 June. We will test – without students – to see if the system is ready, technically. The examination period is scheduled for 3–23 July. Two more days, 24 and 25 July, will be reserved for those schoolchildren who might have overlapping exam dates. Students with a reasonable excuse not to sit for the Unified State Exam in July will be able to take it in August. Thanks to these flexible dates regions will be able to prepare thoroughly.
Another important nuance is that school graduates will be able to apply to higher educational institutions starting 20 June. They will be able to apply remotely and submit their EGE results once they are issued.
The heads of the regions should remember that supervising the preparations for the exams will be their personal responsibility. With consideration for the epidemiological situation in a given region, the necessary precautions, including personal protection equipment, must be taken to prevent the virus. I am instructing the Federal Service for Consumer Rights Protection and the Ministry of Education to monitor the situation in the regions and report on these efforts weekly.
