Russia hits COVID-19 daily record for infections, points at omicron

Russia hit a new daily record for COVID-19 cases, with officials pointing to omicron as being responsible for the surge.

Moscow’s coronavirus task force said 49,513 new cases were recorded on Friday, triple the number of infections reported on Jan. 10, when the new wave of cases took off, The Associated Press reported. 

Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, the head of the coronavirus task force, said authorities expect the “intensive spread of the omicron variant” was behind the increase after Russia broke its record for daily infections Friday. 

Officials said there are no discussions happening about a national lockdown, according to the AP, and further restrictions for the unvaccinated have been postponed indefinitely.

In October, Russia implemented a stay-at-home order for most workers as the country repeatedly broke daily case and death records.

Generally, however, the country has largely avoided strict national coronavirus restrictions

The uptick in cases comes after Russia announced that it was shortening the isolation time required for those who contract COVID-19 from 14 to seven days.