Russia hits new daily COVID record: 180,000 cases

Russia reported 180,071 new coronavirus infections on Sunday, ten times higher than figures a month prior, as the highly contagious omicron variant spreads through the country. Health official said that the ICU was full only of unvaccinated patients.

Faced with the biggest virus surge yet, Russian authorities have generally resisted imposing any major restrictions and repeatedly rejected the idea of introducing a lockdown.   Moreover, the government is considering lifting restrictions for those who come into contact with COVID-19 patients, which currently mandate that those contacts must isolate for seven days. Only about half of Russia's 146-million population has been vaccinated so far, even though the country was among the first in the world to roll out COVID-19 shots.