Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin says the Russian capital will extend a planned school holiday in October to two weeks as part of a series of measures aimed at slowing the progress of COVID-19
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Tuesday's announcement means students will be off school from October 5-18, and Sobyanin urged parents to ensure their children remained home during that period.
"Today a significant proportion of the sick - who are often asymptomatic - are children," the mayor said on his website.
"When they come home, they easily transmit the virus to adults and elderly family members who get much more sick."
The move follows a recommendation last week for anyone with chronic health problems or those older than 65 to stay at home.
The Kremlin said last week it did not plan to impose severe lockdown restrictions despite a growing number of new cases of COVID-19.
With more than 1,159,000 cases, Russia has the world's fourth-highest number of infections.
Australian Associated Press
