MOSCOW, April 20. /TASS/. The Kremlin is not yet stepping up its epidemiological safety measures over the Arcturus coronavirus subvariant but earlier restrictions remain, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

"We do not yet have any changes [in holding face-to-face events with the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin] or any additional measures," he said.

Peskov reiterated that "certain restrictions, precautionary measures, the system of testing [for the presence of the coronavirus infection] are still in effect" in the Kremlin. "Yet so far we are not talking about any enhancements," he added.

Earlier, Head of the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing Anna Popova said that the new XBB 1.16 coronavirus subvariant, dubbed Arcturus, was highly contagious and could bypass a person’s previously formed immunity. According to her, the disease takes on a form of an acute respiratory viral infection. Popova noted that specialists see a risk of the increased incidence of infections at the end of May. To date four infections with the Arcturus subvariant have been confirmed in Russia.

Currently, Arcturus, a new mutation of Omicron, is prevalent in India, where it makes up almost 90% of all COVID-19 infections, the top public health official noted.