Moscow authorities call for wearing masks indoors

MOSCOW. July 12 (Interfax) - The Moscow authorities have called for wearing masks indoors amid rising Covid-19 morbidity; the recommendation is based on a higher contingency of Omicron variant sub-lineages BA.4 and BA.5.

"We recommend that masks be worn indoors on public premises, considering that the new sub-lineages BA.4 and BA.5 are transmitted from one human to another faster than earlier forms of Omicron," the city's social affairs department said on Telegram.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin repealed the mask mandate indoors and on public transport, alongside social distancing, anti-epidemic measures at enterprises and organizations, such as regular temperature screening of workers, partitions at workplaces, and hookah-smoking restrictions in restaurants, bars, cafes, and other public catering establishments on March 15. The ban on public events has remained in place in the city.