Russia resumes flights with more countries amid COVID surge

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia says it will resume allowing air travel to Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Costa Rica and Mongolia starting Dec. 1. The government coronavirus task force said Russia will also lift the remaining restrictions on flights to Cuba, Mexico and Qatar, and increase the number of flights to Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Vietnam. Russia so far has resumed flights with over 60 countries in all. The announcement comes as Russia’s daily coronavirus cases and COVID-19 deaths remain at record highs and less than 40% of the country’s population has been fully vaccinated. Travel between Russian and some Western countries has been complicated because the World Health Organization has yet to recognize the vaccine developed in Russia.