Russian well being officers warned Tuesday of a possible spike in coronavirus instances from the fast unfold of the Omicron variant, with one official saying that six-figure an infection numbers per day have been doable within the nation.

Anna Popova, head of Russian public well being company Rospotrebnadzor, stated Omicron has been detected in 13 of 80 areas in Russia and can be current in Moscow and St. Petersburg, the nation's two largest cities.

Nonetheless, Popova and different well being officers stopped wanting issuing any new COVID-19 restrictions, like capability limits or masks mandates. Solely 305 instances of Omicron have been confirmed to date in Russia, officers stated.

Thirty-five of the nation's 80 areas have an infection charges larger than the present nationwide common, with Russia reporting about 15,000 to 18,000 new infections per day, in contrast with final month's price of about 30,000 each day. Officers stated that quantity is prone to spike within the coming weeks.

Russia leads Europe in deaths from the virus: 10.6 million instances have been confirmed and at the least 317,618 folks have died.

Anna Popova Russia COVID Omicron
Russian officers on Tuesday warned of a looming surge of coronavirus infections as a result of extremely contagious Omicron variant. Above, the pinnacle of the Russian public well being company Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, speaks throughout a summit of the Commonwealth of Unbiased States' heads of state on December 28, 2021. Yevgeny Biyatov/AFP by way of Getty Photographs

The warning on Tuesday comes simply weeks after new infections and deaths in Russia started to say no following one other record-breaking surge.

Russia's state statistics company, which makes use of broader counting standards, places the dying toll a lot larger, saying the general variety of virus-linked deaths between April 2020 and October 2021 was over 625,000.

Regardless of solely 305 confirmed Omicron instances within the nation, Russian Well being Minister Mikhail Murashko stated there have been instances of group unfold.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin stated Tuesday that Omicron is spreading quick within the Russian capital. "Inside seven-10 days, I imagine, we might be seeing a big surge in infections," he stated.

Sobyanin added that the virus state of affairs in Moscow would possibly grow to be much more "crucial" than it was throughout earlier surges.

Moscow well being officers reported 4,635 new instances of COVID-19 Tuesday, a toll nearly twice as excessive as the day prior to this. Russia noticed 17,525 new infections on Tuesday—up from 15,830 on Monday.

Regardless of the warning indicators, no new restrictions have been introduced, and it remained unclear if there are plans to introduce any. Russia had just one nationwide lockdown in 2020, and in October many Russians have been ordered to remain out of labor for every week amid a surge of infections and deaths. However usually the authorities have resisted shutting down companies or imposing any robust restrictions.

Russian lawmakers late final 12 months launched laws limiting entry to public locations to those that have been vaccinated, recovered or medically exempt from getting a jab, however the regulation hasn't but handed all three readings within the parliament.

Comparable restrictions exist already in some Russian areas however are sometimes loosely applied. In others, they have been relaxed forward of the New Yr holidays.

The Related Press contributed to this report.