MOSCOW, Feb 6 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Russia eases some of its COVID-19 restrictions from Sunday, despite reporting a record daily number of cases as the Omicron variant spreads across the country.
The number of daily infections has been surging since January. But the highly transmissible Omicron variant has not led to a significant increase in deaths, and the Kremlin has recently dismissed concerns about the risk of new lockdowns.
According to the latest order from the consumer health watchdog, from Sunday people will no longer need to self-isolate after contacting those infected with COVID-19.
In Moscow, schools and nurseries may end isolation requirements for pupils from next week, the capital’s coronavirus task force said.
Earlier this week, Anna Popova, the head of the watchdog, said that some of the restrictions no longer made sense as the Omicron variant was spreading too fast. Up to 20 per cent of infected people in Russia and 40per cent of people in Moscow have no symptoms.
The order to lift quarantine restrictions comes as new daily cases in Russia jumped to 177,282 on Saturday, from 168,201 a day earlier, and compared with less than 16,000 a day that Russia reported a month ago, the government coronavirus task force said.
It also reported 714 deaths in the past 24 hours, down from all-time high levels above 1,200 recorded in November.
ROME: Italy reported 93,157 COVID-19 cases on Saturday, down from 99,522 the day before, the health ministry said, while the number of deaths decreased to 375 from 433.
Italy has registered 148,542 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February 2020, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the ninth highest in the world. The country has reported 11.54 million cases to date.
Patients in hospital with COVID-19 – not including those in intensive care – stood at 18,615 on Saturday, down from 19,000 a day earlier.
There were 104 new admissions to intensive care units, down from 114 on Friday. The total number of intensive care patients fell to 1,411 from a previous 1,440.
Some 846,480 tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 884,893, the health ministry said. — NNN-AGENCIES
