MOSCOW－Russia registered 22,572 cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, slightly down from the all-time high of 22,702 the previous day, the country's virus response center said on Sunday.

Moscow, the country's worst-hit region, prepared to close restaurants and bars overnight in an effort to contain the pandemic.

Despite the recent surge, Russian authorities have resisted imposing lockdown restrictions as they did earlier this year, stressing instead the importance of hygiene, social distancing and bringing in targeted measures in certain regions.

Moscow, which tallied 6,271 new cases on Saturday, bringing the city's total to 510,214, has ordered bars, restaurants and nightclubs to close between 11 pm and 6 am until mid-January. Officials warned of raids and fines for establishments that fail to comply.

Some restaurant owners complained the measures hurt their businesses while doing little to prevent the virus from spreading.

"We are a bar after all, and most bars work at night," said Svetlana Pivneva, manager of Parka Bar in central Moscow. "I do not fully understand the measures that are being taken, to be honest."

The Mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, has said he hoped the city would not have to impose any additional restrictions, but that it could do so if things get worse.

Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said on Friday that laboratories processing tests should work around the clock and that delays in providing results were unacceptable, Tass news agency reported.

In Italy, the country added two more regions to its coronavirus high-risk red zones on Friday as the daily count surged again. The two regions, the central region of Tuscany, in which Florence is located, and southern Campania, in which Naples is located, were put under strict restrictions starting from Sunday.

"We are asking people for further sacrifices," the country's Health Minister, Roberto Speranza, said. In the red zones, all nonessential shops are shut and nonessential movements prohibited, as is moving from one city to another within the region or to other parts of the country. Outdoor sports are permitted within a short distance from home only.

Italy had recorded 1,144,552 cases as of early Sunday, according to a tally kept by the Johns Hopkins University.

Xinhua - Agencies