On Saturday, Russia registered 49,513 new coronavirus cases over the past 24 hours, the highest daily increase to date, taking the nationwide tally to 10,987,774, according to the official monitoring and response center.
The nationwide death toll increased by 692 to 324,752, while the number of recoveries increased by 24,719 to 9,975,052.
Meanwhile, Moscow, Russia’s worst-hit region, reported a daily record of 15,987 new cases, taking its total to 2,140,914.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin did not discuss the possibility of imposing a lockdown in the capital city during their meeting on Thursday, according to a Friday statement from Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Peskov said that the experience gained during the previous COVID-19 waves has helped rule out the possibility of a lockdown for now.
The spokesman expressed hope that the country’s Sputnik V vaccine would be approved by the World Health Organization in the foreseeable future, adding that the jab has proven to be effective against the fast-spreading Omicron variant.
