About 88% of Moscow communal services workers have received coronavirus vaccine

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Almost 88% of Moscow communal services workers have received a coronavirus vaccine, authorities said Thursday.

Following a sharp surge in coronavirus cases in July, which put Moscow on the edge of a new lockdown, authorities introduced mandatory vaccination for several categories of workers, including in the service, transport, and communal sectors.

There are 119 vaccination sites in Moscow where Russians can get the Russia Sputnik V, EpiVacCorona, or Sputnik Light vaccines.

But the nation’s vaccination campaign is sluggish. In the past 24 hours, the number vaccinated grew up from 15.5% to 15.9%.

As a result, infections remain high and daily figures have plateaued at about 23,000. The number of active cases continues to grow.

Russia's coronavirus emergency task force confirmed 23,270 new infections on Thursday, which brought the caseload to 6.21 million and active cases to 493,162.

Recoveries increased by 20,834 to 5.56 million while deaths grew by 799, raising fatalities to 156,977.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed more than 4.19 million lives in 192 countries and regions, with an excess of 196 million cases reported, according to US-based Johns Hopkins University.