Russia coronavirus deaths jump to record amid Delta variant surge
- The world’s fifth worst-hit country recorded 929 Covid-19 deaths for the first time
- Russia has struggled with low vaccination take-up as polls show that more than half of residents do not plan to get a shot
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A government tally recorded 929 Covid-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, Russia’s highest daily fatalities since the outbreak of the pandemic.
The world’s fifth worst-hit country with more than 7.5 million infections, Russia has seen cases climb since August as vaccinations stalled.
Putin says ‘several dozen’ in his circle have coronavirus
While several Russia-made jabs have been available for months, authorities have struggled to inoculate a vaccine-sceptic population.
Independent polls show that more than half of Russians do not plan to get a shot.
As of Wednesday, just under 30 per cent of the population had been fully vaccinated, according to the Gogov website, which tallies Covid-19 data from the regions.
The surging infections have come without any real pandemic restrictions to limit the spread, but several regions have reintroduced QR codes for access to public places.
But Moscow – the epicentre of Russia’s outbreak – has so far withheld from bringing back restrictions.
Authorities say that the highly contagious Delta variant now accounts for all of the cases in the Russian capital.
Independent experts have accused authorities of downplaying the severity of the outbreak.
Under a broader definition for deaths linked to the coronavirus, statistics agency Rosstat reported in August that Russia had seen more than 350,000 fatalities.
