— The AY.4.2 sub-variant may be around 10 percent more infectious than the original Delta, which has driven new cases and deaths to a series of record daily highs in Russia, said Russian Researcher Thursday. Russia"s News Agency (TASS) quoted the Head of the Scientific Diagnostic Group of the Russian Administration, Kamil Hafizov, as saying that the new AY.4.2 variant is more infectious than the original virus, calling the Russian citizens to vaccinate against the virus. He stressed that the Russian vaccine (Sputnik) is effective against the new variants of the virus. These data practically prompted the Russian authorities to grant the Russian citizens a paid vacation for a period of one week, which can be extended from Oct. 30 to Nov. 7, with the aim of limiting the spread of the Coronavirus epidemic. The AY.4.2 sub-variant is also on an increasing trajectory in England and had already accounted for about 6% of all sequences generated on the week beginning Sept. 27. Meanwhile, the authorities in Moscow on Thursday announced a plan to shut restaurants and non-food stores and introduce other restrictions later this month as Russia registered the highest daily numbers of new coronavirus infections and deaths since the start of the pandemic, the Associated Press reported. The government coronavirus task force reported 36,339 new confirmed infections and 1,036 deaths in the past 24 hours that brought Russia"s death toll to 227,389, by far the highest in Europe. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday responded to rising contagion and deaths by ordering Russians to stay off work for a period starting Oct. 30 and extending through the following week, and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin followed up Thursday by introducing a slew of restrictions in the capital. He said all restaurants, cafes and non-food stores, gyms, movies and other entertainment venues in the Russian capital will be shut for a period from Oct. 28 to Nov. 7, and schools and kindergartens will also be closed. — Agencies