Authorities warn about worsening coronavirus situation in country, urge people to get vaccinated
MOSCOW (AA) – Russia on Tuesday announced 895 coronavirus-related deaths for a new record daily fatalities during the pandemic.
The recent deaths over the past day raised the nationwide toll to 211,696, and the overall tally of infections rose 7.63 million and active cases to 666,672 after 25,110 more people tested positive for COVID-19, according to a daily report by Russia’s coronavirus emergency task force.
Nearly 18,600 people recovered in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 6.75 million, the report added.
The situation with the coronavirus pandemic in Russia has been worsening on the first approach of cold weather and the morbidity is increasing in most of the Russian regions, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said at a government meeting on Monday.
In a separate statement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the pace of vaccination in Russia is much behind what is desired, blaming “an insufficiently active campaign to explain the lack of alternatives to vaccination” for people’s unwillingness to get a jab.
Health Minister Mikhail Murashko, for his part, stressed the efficiency of vaccination, saying only 2% of vaccinated people get infected with coronavirus. He also warned the upcoming flu season in Russia will be difficult.
Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed around 4.8 million lives in 192 countries and regions, with more than 235 million cases reported worldwide, according to the US’ John Hopkins University.