Health officials of Moscow say that the number of people getting coronavirus has gone up sharply in the last week.

The Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 are responsible for many of the infections.

“Over the course of the past week, there has been a 57-percent rise in new cases of Covid-19 compared to the previous week,” Moscow social services wrote on Telegram.

“We recommend that you wear a mask in public places because the new Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5 spread more rapidly from person to person.”

Since a few weeks ago, coronavirus infections have been on the rise again in Europe, mostly because of the same Omicron subvariants.

Because of the expected “summer wave” of Covid infections, the European Union said on Monday that everyone over 60 should get a second vaccine shot. Before, it was only recommended for people over 80.

Since July 6, between 500 and 600 new cases have been reported every day in the Russian capital. This is up from less than 400 the week before.

This is still a long way from February, when Moscow saw more than 20,000 new cases every day.

The centre of the pandemic in Russia has been in the city of Moscow. When waves start in the capital, they quickly move through the whole country.

[embedpost slug=”bill-richardson-will-travel-to-moscow-to-secure-brittney-griner-release/”]