Moscow mayor extends curbs, says tough weeks ahead with Omicron

FILE PHOTO: Passengers walk along the platform of a metro station, after some of the partial lockdown measures imposed to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) were lifted by local authorities, in Moscow, Russia November 8, 2021. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina

The mayor of Moscow said on Tuesday he was extending COVID-19 home-working rules and guidance to protect elderly people until April 1 as the city braces for a sharp rise in infections with the Omicron variant.

"Given the rapid and wide spread of Omicron, it is clear that the workload of outpatient clinics will increase sharply," Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.