COVID-19 Cases In Russia Hit New Daily High, Overall Count Exceeds 8M

Russia on Monday registered a record number of daily coronavirus cases, with 34,325 people testing positive over the past 24 hours, taking the tally past 8 million, authorities said.

The number of active cases also climbed to 785,647, Russia's emergency task force said in a daily report. It added that daily fatalities increased by 998 in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 224,310, while recoveries increased by 16,431, totaling more than 7 million.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry announced in a separate statement that it lifted restrictions for the entry of family members of foreign citizens and stateless persons with a temporary residence permit in Russia.

"Family members include spouses, parents, children, siblings, grandparents, grandchildren, adoptive parents, adopted children, guardians, and trustees," the ministry said.

If such a relative needs a visa to travel to Russia, the inviting person must apply to the Ministry of Internal Affairs to get an invitation which will then be used for the visa process.

Speaking to TV channel Rossiya 24 last week, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, who also heads the task force, said the mortality rate has risen in the country in recent months.

She stressed that vaccination remains the principal means of protection against COVID-19.

Russian authorities link the rising number of COVID-19 deaths to the country's low vaccination rate, with only 43 million people, or 30.71%, fully vaccinated – less than half the figure needed for herd immunity.

Another risk is the onset of cold temperatures and the accompanying flu-like illnesses.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed more than 4.9 million lives in 192 countries and regions, with over 240.75 million cases reported worldwide, according to the US' Johns Hopkins University. -