least 1.5 m between the workers and the customers. on 10 april, sobyanin introduced a system of electronic permits due to the increase in violations of the stay-at-home regime, ordered most types of companies and institutions in the city to halt operation, paused the work of the world's largest carsharing system. starting from 15 april, people using private cars, taxis or public transport, will have to get a digital pass indicating the purpose of travel. the number of permits available will be limited, except for unlimited passes for work trips. accusations of ethnic profiling at the earlier stages in february, drivers of mosgortrans were required to inform their dispatchers if they see chinese nationals in their vehicles, to call the police. moscow metro employees were required to ask chinese nationals to fill in questionnaires. on 21 february, mayor sobyanin confirmed that mosgortrans and moscow metro were asked to work together with police forces to "monitor those who arrived from china". facial recognition was also used to track these people. on 24 february, the chinese embassy in russia asked moscow authorities to put an end to these "excessive measures" in transport. sobyanin insisted that the measures were not discriminatory but helped control those who were required to stay self-isolated upon arrival from china. in early march, numerous cases of deportation of chinese students who allegedly broke the quarantine rules were reported. however at the later stages many of these russian measures were applied to all foreign arrivals, including for russian citizens coming back from abroad, with them being forced into self quarantine and facecam profiling. 200 cases of quarantine-breakers by russian citizens were reported to be recognised with facecam profiling, tracked by public surveillance cameras in moscow. saint petersburg and leningrad oblast on 13 march, the governors of saint petersburg and leningrad oblast alexander beglov and aleksandr drozdenko announced a high alert status and banned events with more than 1,000 and 300 people respectively. on 18 march, governor of saint petersburg alexander beglov banned events and gatherings with more than 50 people. on 26 march, he ordered restaurants, cafes, bars, canteens, parks, places of worship, commercial and retail businesses requiring personal attendance, except those providing essential services, like grocery shops and pharmacies, to close during the holiday week from 28 march to 5 april. free and concessionary tickets for public transport will be suspended during the week. leisure facilities including nightclubs, children's playrooms, and recreation centres will be closed until 30 april. in leningrad oblast only pharmacies, grocery shops, building material and household shops will remain open during the holiday week. on 1 april, the saint petersburg metro will start closing at 22:00 msk instead of 0:00–0:45 msk. ground transportation will end at 23:00 msk and its intervals will be increased. other regions a billboard advertising hotline number for vaccination help. chechnya was the first region to close restaurants and cafes on 24 march and to announce closure of its borders on 5 april. on 15 april, it was reported that murmansk oblast will use electronic bracelets to monitor those suspected to have the coronavirus and self-isolating at home. on 27 april, the governor of nizhny novgorod oblast, gleb nikitin, said that entry to the region would be banned unless one has an emergency permit or proof of residence there. on 18 may, saratov oblast reinstated its ban on walks and outdoor activities a week after easing restrictions due to an increase in cases. foreign aid in early february, aid was sent to china. on 22 march, after a phone call with italian prime minister giuseppe conte, russian president vladimir putin arranged the russian army to send medical help to italy, which was the european country hardest hit by coronavirus. on 1 april, a russian military plane was sent to the united states to deliver medical equipment. the equipment was apparently sold to the us.