Since June 28, QR passes to cafes and restaurants have been operating in Moscow and the Moscow region for vaccinated citizens who have recently had COVID-19 or who have received negative results of PCR tests. Representatives of the industry claim that because of this decision of the authorities, the catering system in the capital region was in a pre-bankruptcy state. This threatens not only the closure of many institutions,but also the release of labor. What else can the innovations adopted to curb the spread of COVID-19 turn out to be, NEWS.ru the public ombudsman of the Russian Federation in the field of small and medium-sized businesses, restaurateur Anastasia Tatulova and the commissioner in the field of restaurant business in Moscow Sergey Mironov told.

Anastasia Tatulova: "Not only our industry is suffering"

— What complaints are received from cafes and restaurateurs in connection with the introduction of QR codes?

— The industry is now practically paralyzed, it can't work. Food courts have already been closed for three weeks, and the talk that they can work takeaway is not reflected in the decrees (of the authorities of Moscow and the Moscow region on the introduction of restrictions on visiting catering establishments. — NEWS.ru). In general, the decline in the industry is about 70%, there are more. Many people are quarantined because it is easier to pay rent and dismiss employees than to work in conditions when you have one table with guests inside and you need to throw away all the products that you bought. In general, the situation is very difficult now. In fact, this is an unannounced lockdown for the industry.

If, after all, a decision is made to extend the work without QR codes on summer verandas, this will partly help. But we need another solution to this — even those who do not have summer verandas should be allowed to put tables outside and work without additional approvals, as long as the weather allows. Now entrepreneurs do not have such an opportunity.

Plus, the obligation to vaccinate employees, shifted to the business, also adds problems. Unfortunately, people do not want to be vaccinated, they do not believe the authorities, they are afraid. A very strong anti-vaccination campaign is being conducted. I don't know who initiated it, but it is very powerful and well-trained, so it is difficult to persuade employees. I do not know about the rest of my colleagues, but we have decided in our network of family cafes "AnderSon" that we will not force, suspend or dismiss anyone. We explain, we call doctors — they tell us about the vaccination, answer questions, slowly people change their point of view. From 50% against [vaccination] now we have come to 20%. On Friday, July 2, we are starting to get vaccinated, which will be carried out by specialists from the partner clinic. The vaccine is free, we pay for an examination by a doctor of each employee.

— And who has already closed-large restaurants or small cafes?

— It is not only our industry that is suffering. All children's educational centers and entertainment, game rooms, all commercial rentals in parks are completely closed. At the same time, city services continue to work. And it seems to me that this is completely wrong, unfair to entrepreneurs. At the same time, the business has not yet received any support, any real measures from the city. We are talking only about deferrals and loans, on which banks will once again earn money.

In addition to the fact that the business is now virtually closed, it is experiencing pressure from visitors. The negative that is directed against entrepreneurs due to the fact that they are obliged to comply with the decree, frankly, is very depressing. This decree was not adopted by entrepreneurs themselves, this is not what they would like to live in, and when people start breaking cash registers or fighting with waiters, it is already some kind of the end of the world.

I would like us all to calm down a little, to start treating each other with greater understanding, to think about the fact that there is actually a big problem with morbidity in the city. And we should all think about how to survive this, and not wet each other. If people do not want to get vaccinated, there is really a great responsibility in this, and the failure of the authorities is an index of total distrust of the authorities, even at the cost of their own lives or the lives of their loved ones.

Of course, I would like to appeal to the authorities once again, because it seems to me that in the current situation it is completely blasphemous to hold some events like the "Scarlet Sails" in St. Petersburg or a rock festival in Lipetsk.

— That is, the restaurants are closed, but officials are holding "Scarlet Sails". Is it blasphemous from this point of view?

— From the point of view that at the current level of morbidity, we are not talking about whether restaurants are closed or open, but about the fact that people continue to come to St. Petersburg or Lipetsk en masse, bringing the virus. No one controls the entrance to the city, there is not even a duty to do PCR on domestic flights. I believe that someone should be responsible for this- someone should be punished for this, deprived of his position and put on trial.

As a citizen and an entrepreneur, I have serious questions for those people who were supposed to ensure safety, stop the epidemic, make sure that the new strain was stopped in the bud, but, unfortunately, they did not cope with this.

Sergey Mironov: "A huge number of people will be on the labor market"

— How did Moscow restaurants and cafes suffer from the introduction of QR codes? How much, according to your estimates, has their revenue fallen since June 28?

— There are restaurants that were practically not affected or suffered minimally. These are establishments that sell pizza and sushi. They have a delivery service: people eat pizza, sushi and burgers at home, and not gastronomic dishes. The delivery of these companies has jumped significantly, which gives them the opportunity to work. At the same time, another part of the market is in a terrible state. If there are no summer verandas, then the revenue of such restaurants has fallen by 90%, there are basically no guests there. A small percentage of restaurants in Moscow have summer verandas, but those who have them also lack the flow of guests, because the verandas are filled, and the halls are idle.

In general, if we take the average figure in Moscow, taking into account the work of summer verandas, then the overall drop in revenue is about 80%. At the same time, someone's revenue is less than 10% [of the norm], someone has more than 30%, someone manages to keep profits.

— What will it lead to?

— This will lead to mass bankruptcies, layoffs of employees and non-payment of salaries. A huge number of people will be on the labor market.

— How close is this collapse?

— I assume that there is about a month left before the mass closures. And the first closures will begin at the end of this week, then they will increase.

— And if in a month the mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, makes some concessions for the restaurant business, will it somehow save?

- Part of the sector will not be closed completely. I think that the relief should be done immediately, because the industry will not withstand this load. Moscow is trying to do something, in particular, the Moscow Department of Trade and Services and its head Alexey Nemeryuk. We wrote a letter to Sobyanin, and there was a reaction to it: restaurants were allocated a subsidy of 1 million rubles. This, of course, will help to hold out in the near future.

— What is the situation in the regions?

— As a rule, they do nothing in the regions,but Moscow does. Moscow has opened a line for preferential loans for entrepreneurs. But again, this will allow us to hold out for some time in the near future, so during the month people will still somehow pull. Again, there are huge restaurants that have only 3 million rubles for rent, and for them this money is insignificant. And this will seriously help small companies.

As he wrote NEWS.ru, the incidence of coronavirus in Russia continues to update anti-records. The authorities of Moscow and the Moscow region have introduced a QR-code system that gives the right to visit catering points and some other public spaces to vaccinated people who have been ill or have received negative PCR tests.

Foreigners have already faced problems in obtaining QR codes in Moscow. The greatest difficulties are experienced by those who were vaccinated with unregistered vaccines in the Russian Federation or had a coronavirus, but did not apply to Russian medical institutions. Also, according to some reports, employees of a number of FSB and FSO divisions could not get passes. However, the Federal Security Service denied this information. Meanwhile, illegal services selling QR codes began to appear on the Internet.

The representative of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Russia, Melita Vujinovich, commenting on the introduction of mandatory QR codes in Moscow, said that one measure taken cannot solve the problem of the increase in the incidence of COVID-19. To resolve the situation, it is necessary to act comprehensively. In turn, Nemeryuk did not rule out that the use of QR codes can be extended to public transport and shops.

Business ombudsmen from Bashkiria, Kamchatka and the Krasnodar Territory proposed to create "beskovidny" shops, pharmacies, shopping centers and entertainment venues in the Russian regions. This, in their opinion, will speed up the vaccination of the population. Such an initiative was opposed by the commissioners for the rights of entrepreneurs in Yakutia, Sakhalin, Nizhny Novgorod and Kaliningrad regions. They are convinced that the implementation of this proposal will bring huge losses to business