Russia: Infections could surge 6 times higher due to omicron

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian officials on Tuesday sounded the alarm about a looming surge of coronavirus infections due to the highly contagious omicron variant, but stopped short of announcing new restrictions in a hard-hit country where very few limits are in place.

Russia already has by far Europe's highest pandemic toll at over 317,000 dead. The warning on Tuesday comes just weeks after new infections and deaths in Russia began to decline following another record-breaking surge.

Pessimistic estimates suggest that Russia might face six-figure numbers of daily new infections, according to Anna Popova, head of Russia's public health agency Rospotrebnadzor.

Experts already see indications that the situation with the virus is worsening, Popova added — infection rates in 35 out of more than 80 Russian regions are higher than the country's average.

Russia this year has been reporting between 15,000 and 18,000 new infections a day, compared to December's rate of about 30,000 daily cases. The country's state coronavirus task force has registered over 10.6 million confirmed infections and 317,618 deaths overall.

Russia's state statistics agency, which user broader counting criteria, puts the death toll much higher, saying the overall number of virus-linked deaths between April 2020 and October 2021 was over 625,000.

Health officials have reported only 305 confirmed cases of omicron so far, but Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said there have been cases of community spread. Popova on Tuesday said the variant was registered in 13 Russian regions, including the country's biggest cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Tuesday that omicron is spreading fast in the Russian capital.

“Within 7-10 days, I believe, we will be seeing a significant...