Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin yesterday announced a "non-working" week in the Russian capital, with non-essential workers told to stay home, as Covid-19 cases hit a six-month high. 

The decision marks a change of tone for Russian authorities, with President Vladimir Putin repeatedly insisting that Russia has handled the pandemic better than most countries. 

"During the past week the situation with the spread of the coronavirus infection has sharply deteriorated," Sobyanin said on his website as the city registered 6,701 daily infections, the highest number since December last year.

Sobyanin added that "thousands" of hospital beds have been repurposed for coronavirus patients.

"We cannot not react to such a situation," he said. "To stop the growth of infections and to save people's lives, today I signed a decree providing for non-working days between June 15-19."

The order affects all employees in the Russian capital, a city of 12 million, except for essential workers.

Non-essential workers are not required to work from home during the period, but will still retain their salaries.

Together with the weekends and a public holiday on June 14, it means most Moscow workers will not return to their offices until June 20.

Sobyanin also called on employers to transfer at least 30 percent of non-vaccinated employees to working from home after the week-long shutdown.