MOSCOW, March 29. /TASS/. All Moscow residents will be required to stay in home self-isolation from Monday, Moscow’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Sunday.

"Today, I signed a decree on extra measures to prevent a rapid spread of COVID-2019," he wrote on his blog. "Starting from tomorrow, the home self-isolation regime will be binding on all Moscow residents, regardless of their age."

People will be allowed to leave their homes only for emergency medical assistance, trips to work and back, dog walking to a distance of not more than 100 meters from the house, and to buy food in the nearest store and throw away garbage. Movements across the city will be allowed for holder of special permits issued by the Moscow city government.

"A smart home regime control and movements system will be deployed in the coming days. Control will be further toughened," Sobyanin added.

People are strongly advised not to leave home without extreme necessity and to observe a distance of at least 1.5 meters.

Organizations and companies are obliged to ensure observance of the 1.5-meter distance requirement.

A pneumonia outbreak caused by the COVID-19 virus (previously known as 2019-nCoV) was reported in China’s city of Wuhan, a large trade and industrial center with a population of 12 million, in late December 2019. Cases of the new coronavirus have also been reported from 160 countries, including Russia, which by now has 1,534, with eight deaths and 64 recoveries. According to the latest update, the novel coronavirus cases across the globe have neared 620,000, with nearly 30,000 fatalities. The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially described the situation with the novel coronavirus as a pandemic.