PRESIDENT IGOR DODON SAYS AUTHORITIES WILL NOT INTRODUCE NEW RESTRICTIONS IN CONNECTION WITH THE COVID-19 INFECTION SPREAD

President Igor Dodon said in an interview with the Russian edition of RBC that the authorities will not impose new restrictions in connection with the spread of COVID-19.

“We decided strongly with our colleagues from the government that we will not introduce any additional restrictions for anyone, and most likely there will be none for the educational process. Now we have holidays, but we are not considering switching to remote learning, work and so on. If we talk about education, schools, then where such cases appear, the class or the school goes into quarantine. I know that some of our neighbors have a much more difficult situation in case of hospital beds. Our medical system copes with this situation. We are ready for any challenge at this stage. We took every precaution. We cope and wait for the Russian vaccine,” Dodon said.

The President described the situation with the coronavirus in Moldova as “"difficult, but stable.”

“Of course, the situation is not easy, but if you look at the dynamics of recent days, it is stable. We don't have the big outbreaks that we had a few weeks ago, when there were 1,000-1,200 cases per day. This is a lot for Moldova, taking into account the population of three million people. In recent days, there have been several hundred new cases, and this number has stabilized,” the official said, considering the fight against COVID-19 “the most important current problem.”

“We understand very well that to solve this problem we need a vaccine - or everyone should get sick, so that all citizens of the Republic of Moldova have antibodies, but this is very difficult, and this is a very long period. We need to do everything possible to help citizens who are suffering from the economic crisis,” Dodon stressed.

According to him, “the suspension of the economic activity in April-May hit the economy very seriously.”

“And in the second quarter of this year we had a decline in GDP by 14%, and in general for the first half of the year - minus 8%. This is essential for any country. But we managed, despite the difficult situation, to start getting out of this stupor,” the President noted.

The head of state also said that “this year, Moldova was also hit by an unprecedented drought.”

“We received a loan from the IMF this year to support the economy. Our balanced foreign policy and our pragmatism are yielding concrete results. But the Russian Federation was always there and helped. We are considering the possibility of supplying grain from Russia for the state reserve. In any way, today, the food security of Moldova is ensured,” Dodon stressed.