Moscow mayor Sergey Sobyanin said Friday a tripling of the number of COVID-19 cases in recent days has prompted the need to close the Euro 2020 fan zone and take other preventive measures to stop the virus from spreading.

"I don't want to, but I have to do it," Sobyanin wrote on his blog.

Sobyanin blamed new variants for the sudden spread, while the Kremlin cited nihilism and low vaccination rates.

Fan zones at capacity

The Moscow fan zone near Luzhniki Stadium previously admitted 5,000 pre-registered fans who underwent temperature checks and wore masks while inside.

The fan zone in St. Petersburg is currently to remain open. Alexey Sorokin, the Euro 2020 organizing chief in Russia's second city, told the state-run TASS news agency that he was unaware of any obligation to reduce capacity.

Other events have been limited to 1,000 people or halted all together, with clubs closing along with mall food courts, zoos and playgrounds. Restaurants and bars may not operate from 11 p.m. until 6 a.m.

Anti-vaccine sentiment more widespread than the virus

With 12 million people, Moscow has been the epicenter of Russia's COVID-19 outbreak, with the case count jumping from 3,000 to 7,000 in mere days. Moscow reported just over 9,000 new cases Friday.

While Russia launched a free mass-vaccination campaign in December, anti-vaccination sentiment is fairly widespread, with only 19 million of a total population of 146 million having received at least one dose.

In Moscow, only 1.8 million people have received a jab. The mayor recently tried to motivate citizens by registering anyone who came for a shot in a lottery to win a car. 

Rostat statistics agency reports 270,000 deaths in Russia over the course of the pandemic.

ar/rt (AFP, dpa, Reuters)