Russia’s daily COVID-19 cases hit highest since last December

MOSCOW

Russia on Thursday reported 27,550 COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, the country’s highest daily figure this year, bringing the total number of infections to 7.69 million, health authorities said.

The highest ever number of single-day cases in the country was reported at 28,833 on Dec. 26, 2020.

According to Russia’s coronavirus emergency task force, 924 more people died of the virus over the past day, pushing the death toll to 213,549.

It said that there are 677,331 active COVID-19 cases in the country.

Some 20,330 patients recovered over the past day, taking the overall tally to 6.79 million.

The pandemic situation in Russia has worsened as the winter approaches.

On Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said that the number of daily COVID-19 cases may climb to 30,000 soon.

She also added that 42.2 million people, or 29.11% of the country’s population, have been vaccinated.

In a separate statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there is "an insufficiently active campaign” to motivate citizens to receive vaccine jabs.

The Russian experts say the pandemic has been declining in the world but the epidemiological situation in Russia today is "not the most favorable."

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed nearly 4.83 million lives in 192 countries and regions, with more than 236.5 million cases reported worldwide, according to the US' John Hopkins University.