Russia's daily virus death toll climbs to new high

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) – The daily coronavirus death toll in Russia hit a new high on Friday.

According to latest official data, 936 more people died of the virus over the past day, raising the overall count of COVID-19 fatalities to 214,485.

New infections were over 27,000 for the second day in a row – 27,246 – and the country’s caseload is now over 7.71 million, including 683,075 active cases.

Recoveries increased by 20,566 to reach 6.81 million.

Experts have acknowledged that the epidemiological situation in Russia is “not the most favorable.”

They believe the growing number of COVID-19 deaths is because of the lax vaccination coverage in Russia, where only 42.2 million people, or 29.11%, have been vaccinated – less than half of the figure needed for herd immunity.

Another factor is the onset of winter and the flu-like illnesses that it brings along.

Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said earlier this week that daily virus cases may soon climb to 30,000.