Russia reported on Saturday 697 deaths related to COVID, the most confirmed in a single day since the pandemic began.
Coronavirus deaths in Russia hit a record high on Saturday for the fifth day in a row, and authorities reported 697 fatalities as the country faces a rapidly rising infection.
Friday’s previous record was 679.
Russia’s state coronavirus working group reported 24,439 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, the highest daily figure since January and 1,200 more than the day before. Moscow, its outlying region, and St. Petersburg accounted for nearly half of Saturday’s new cases.
Officials blame the rising infectious variant of Delta and the lukewarm demand for vaccinations.
The Kremlin insisted on Friday that authorities are not debating another closure. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov admitted that the situation with the coronavirus remains “tense” in several regions, but said “no one wants any blockade.”
Moscow, the region hardest hit by Russia’s entire pandemic, reported 7,446 cases on Saturday, while St. Petersburg, which hosted the Euro 2020 quarter-finals between Spain and Switzerland on Friday night, reported 1,733 cases. and 110 dead. Images of the city’s fan zones showed many people without the mandatory mouth and nose cover.
Russia hoped its vaccination campaign would reduce a new wave, but it has met with widespread skepticism and slow deployment, with only 16 percent of the 146 million people captured.
Frightened by the new wave of cases, officials have imposed a series of measures to force or encourage people to get vaccinated.
In Moscow, which has not had a strict closure since last summer, officials have now banned people from going to cafes, bars and restaurants unless they can prove vaccination, immunity or a negative test.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin told residents that more than 2.7 million people have now received at least one dose of vaccine. He said around 60-70,000 people were vaccinated daily and said he expected the number of people who have had a first dose to reach 3 million next week.
At a site in the capital, 21-year-old student Svetlana Stepereva told AFP news agency that she had been queuing for two hours to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
“I want to get punched and feel safe,” he said.