Moscow will require digital passes for residents to go outside after all

A source within Moscow’s headquarters for the COVID-19 epidemic told Meduza that the city will soon introduce digital passes for most residents wishing to leave their homes. RBC simultaneously obtained the same information.

Within the next hour, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin is scheduled to give a special address announcing the new system. Meduza’s source indicated that the decision to tighten restrictions on Muscovites leaving their homes was made due to a sharp increase in coronavirus cases and a large number of individuals violating self-isolation rules.

According to Vedomosti, even though Moscow residents will need to check in digitally before they leave home, they will be permitted to go outside for a wide range of reasons, and some categories of individuals will not have to obtain passes at all.

Sobyanin had previously backed away from the idea of requiring that QR codes be issued through a special app to regulate the movements of city residents outside their homes.