High alert in the Russian capital due to coronavirus

Special measures are introduced* in Moscow as of 5 March 2020 due to the threat of spread of the new coronavirus infection.

Anyone planning on coming to Moscow from a country that is affected by the spread of coronavirus should reconsider their plans for the time being and until further notice. This applies to persons travelling for business or any other purposes.

Obligations for individuals

Individuals arriving to Moscow from China, South Korea, Iran, Italy, France, Germany and Spain must, irrespective of their citizenship, ensure self-isolation at home for a period of 14 days from the date of their arrival in Russia. Other countries may be added in the future.

These individuals must not go to work, to education institutions and minimise visiting public places.

In addition, anyone who visited countries where coronavirus infection cases are registered must:

• report to the Moscow city hotline (+7 495 870 45 09) of their arrival to Russia, the place and dates of their stay in those countries and their contact details; and
• with the onset of first respiratory symptoms, immediately seek medical help at home without visiting medical institutions.

Failing to comply with these requirements may give rise to administrative (including the risk of deportation for foreigners) and/or criminal liability.

Obligations for employers

All employers engaged in activities in the territory of Moscow now must:

• provide measurement of employees’ body temperature at the working places and mandatorily suspend employees with elevated temperature from being at the workplace;
• assist their employees in complying with self-isolation at home;
• immediately provide the relevant federal service, upon its request, with information on all persons who may have been in contact with an infected employee in the course of his professional activity; and
• ensure that any premises where this infected employee has been are disinfected.

Each non-compliance with the above obligations may potentially result in an administrative fine of between:

• RUB 100,000 (EUR 1,360) and RUB 200,000 (EUR 2,720) for legal entities; and
• RUB 10,000 (EUR 136) and RUB 20,000 (EUR 272) for officials of legal entities.

Immediate recommendations for employers

Until further clarifications from the authorities, we recommend employers in Moscow take the following initial measures:

• informing all their employees of the new regime;
• reminding all employees of the basic health protection measures (e.g. washing hands regularly, using antibacterial hand gel);
• equipping themselves with contactless thermometers;
• measuring their employees’ body temperatures on a daily basis;
• keeping records on a log book of the results of these measurements;
• requiring any employee with fever to immediately leave the work place and to seek medical assistance; and
• ensuring disinfection of working premises when required.

When an employee is in self-isolation, it is still unclear what assistance the employer must provide. In our opinion, such assistance may include any measures allowing the employee to work from home.

If you have any questions on this eAlert, do not hesitate to contact CMS Russia experts Valeriy Fedoreev, Christophe Huet and Ekaterina Elekchyan or your regular contact at CMS Russia.

* In Russian