Moscow today (Sunday) announced a record number of deaths due to COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, indicating a continued deterioration of the situation in Russia, which is facing the impact of the Delta variant. Official data reported by Russian news agencies indicated that Moscow recorded 144 deaths within 24 hours, marking the worst death toll since the beginning of the pandemic. St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city, recorded a record death toll of 107 cases on Saturday.
Russia as a whole reported 20,538 new infections among more than 5.4 million confirmed cases in the country since the outbreak began. A total of 599 people died in one day from an overall death toll of 133,282, according to official figures. Moscow's Mayor Sergey Sobyanin stated on television last night (Saturday) that approximately 2,000 people are being hospitalized daily in the capital due to COVID-19, saying, "We have prepared 20,000 beds, of which 14,000 are currently occupied. That is a large number."
Russia is one of the countries most affected by COVID-19 and is currently heavily impacted by the Delta variant, which raises concerns globally. In recent weeks, Moscow has reimposed restrictions, such as requiring some employees to work remotely again and mandating that service sector employees receive vaccinations, as well as introducing a health pass that prohibits entry to restaurants without it.
However, a complete lockdown, similar to that imposed in the spring of 2020, remains unlikely in a city with a population of over 12 million. The tourist city of St. Petersburg, which hosts matches for the UEFA Euro 2020, is also another hotspot for the pandemic in Russia. The city is scheduled to host a quarter-final match next Friday.
St. Petersburg recorded 1,298 new virus infections and 106 deaths, a day after reporting a record number of deaths. Russia's vaccination campaign has been slow since December, amid a lack of public trust in vaccines despite repeated calls from President Vladimir Putin to get vaccinated. Only 21.2 million people out of Russia's 146 million population have received at least one dose, according to official figures published Friday by the "Gogov" website, which collects data from regions and media in the absence of official statistics.
