Russia COVID-19 death toll hits daily record high for second day

Russia recorded nearly 670 new coronavirus deaths on Wednesday, shattering the previous day’s record for the largest increase in fatalities due to COVID-19 within a 24-hour period. 

The 669 new deaths Wednesday come as Russia continues to battle a surge in infections amid the spread of the highly transmissible delta variant first identified in India, as well as relatively low vaccination rates across the country. 

Russia recorded 652 fatalities Tuesday as a result of the virus. 

On Wednesday, the country recorded 21,042 new COVID-19 cases, continuing the trend of more than 20,000 new cases reported each day in Russia since last Thursday, according to The Associated Press. 

In total, Russian health officials have recorded more than 5.5 million confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic, as well as 135,214 deaths. 

Top Russian authorities have called on citizens to take safety and health precautions more seriously amid the pandemic. Officials said that the lack of mitigation methods has been responsible for the surge that began earlier this month. 

Just 15 percent of the country’s population has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, even though Russia was one of the first countries to release and begin distributing an inoculation to combat the virus. 

As part of his push to get more people vaccinated, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced to the public Wednesday that he had received Russia’s Sputnik V shot. 

According to Reuters, the leader said during his annual televised phone-in event that Russia’s four vaccines were safe and effective, while alleging that Western-manufactured vaccines were not as credible. 

“As you can see, everything is in order, and thank God we don’t have such tragic situations after vaccinations like AstraZeneca or Pfizer,” he said. 

While the Kremlin had previously said that Putin received his first and second doses of Sputnik V in March and April, authorities did not release any additional details or provide images of him getting the shots. 

The Kremlin has repeatedly sought to boost the importance of the shots amid widespread vaccine hesitancy, with spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying that some occupations will begin requiring that its workers get vaccinated, including at government offices and in sectors like education and retail.