Moscow to reopen schools, but extends other COVID-19 restrictions by one week

FILE PHOTO: First graders are seen in the classroom on the first day of the new school year, as schools reopen after the summer break and the lockdown due to the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Moscow, Russia September 1, 2020. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Moscow has extended all restrictions against COVID-19 until Jan. 21, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Thursday, with the exception of pupils returning to schools from Monday.

Russia, which launched a voluntary vaccination programme with the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine last month, has resisted imposing a strict lockdown as it did during the first wave of the coronavirus last year, relying on targeted measures instead.