Russia has broken its daily coronavirus record with more than 20,000 new infections reported Friday and almost 380 deaths.
The 20,582 new coronavirus cases shatter Wednesday’s record by more than 800 and push the total caseload to 1,733,440, the world’s fourth-highest number.
More than a quarter of the newly infected Russians were asymptomatic, the national coronavirus information center said.
The virus killed 378 people, 11 short of a record set Wednesday and bringing the national death toll to 29,887.
While Moscow remains the epicenter of Russia’s coronavirus outbreak with 6,253 new cases, St. Petersburg has for the third consecutive day notched up more than 1,000 new infections.
Russia’s Covid-19 information center said 16,966 people have recovered from the virus, bringing the overall number of recoveries to 1,296,124.
Cases continue rising as Russian regions outside Moscow report severe shortages of hospital beds, staff and medicine.
Authorities continue to rule out a nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of the pandemic, opting instead for targeted measures like mandating masks in public and requiring some schoolchildren and employees to study or work from home.
