Moscow locks down as Russian COVID-19 deaths surge to new highs

FILE PHOTO: People receive a vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a vaccination centre in the State Department Store, GUM, in Moscow, Russia October 26, 2021. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina

MOSCOW (Reuters) -The Russian capital brought in its strictest COVID-19 related lockdown measures in more than a year on Thursday as nationwide one-day pandemic deaths and infections hit new highs amid slow vaccination take-up across the world's biggest country.

Moscow's partial lockdown, in which only essential shops like pharmacies and supermarkets are allowed to remain open and schools and state kindergartens are shut, comes ahead of a week-long nationwide workplace shutdown from Oct. 30.