In Russia, 679 deaths from Covid-19 have been recorded in the past 24 hours. That is the highest number of confirmed deaths in one day since the pandemic’s start for the fourth day in a row.
The authorities attribute the record to the more contagious Delta variant of the virus in combination with too few vaccinations. The day before, with 672, an almost equal number of deaths had occurred.
The government’s coronavirus task force recorded 23,218 new infections in the past 24 hours, bringing the national number of cases to 5,561,360.
The Kremlin is gloomy about the developments. On Tuesday, the government admitted that it would not be possible to vaccinate 60 percent of the population against the virus before the fall. As a result, expectations will be lowered, government spokesman Dmitri Peskov acknowledged. High vaccination coverage is necessary to contain the virus. About 22.2 million of the 146 million inhabitants have received at least one dose.
According to government statistics, more than 135,000 people have died from the effects of Covid-19 in the country, making Russia the hardest-hit European country. But the Rosstat statistics agency, which has a broader definition of deaths related to Covid-19, already recorded 270,000 deaths at the end of April.
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