Russia broke its daily coronavirus deaths record again on Tuesday as the rising toll and the spike in new cases prompt regional response centers to reimpose restrictions that have been absent since the start of the year.
The government tally reported 895 Covid-19 deaths across Russia in the past 24 hours, bringing the official death toll based on daily figures to 211,696 — the highest in Europe.
Russia has now reported all-time high numbers of one-day Covid deaths for six out of the last eight days.
Russia’s Covid information center also reported 25,110 new infections, figures not seen since the height of the last wave of the outbreak in January. Russia is the world’s fifth most affected country by the pandemic with 7.6 million total coronavirus cases.
A number of Russian regions reintroduced Covid restrictions — including self-isolation rules and closures of public spaces — in the days after Russians went to the polls to elect lawmakers and local leaders in mid-September.
Pro-government media reported Tuesday, citing unnamed government sources, that authorities planned to reimpose restrictions across 11 additional regions in central and southern Russia. The Kremlin has stopped short of announcing nationwide efforts to slow the spread.
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on Monday expressed the government’s “serious concern” about the surge in infections, saying hospitalizations have doubled compared with the same period in 2020 and criticizing “insufficient” vaccination rates.
Russia has approved at least five domestically developed Covid-19 vaccines, but its vaccination drive has stalled at under 30% of the population, according to the independent Gogov monitor.
