People wearing face masks walk along Red Square in front of St. Basil's cathedral in central passing an ambulance Moscow on June 18, 2021, amid the crisis linked with the Covid-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus. (Photo: AP)

Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said Friday that the highly infectious Delta variant first identified in India represents almost 90 percent of new cases in the Russian capital.

"The latest data we have received is that 89.3 percent are sick with a mutated coronavirus, the so-called 'Delta,'" Sobyanin told Russian television, after Moscow recorded a pandemic high for new daily cases.