Russia recorded 23,543 COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, up from 21,042 the day before, bringing the total to 5,538,142, the federal response centre said on Thursday.
"Over the past day, 23,543 COVID-19 cases were confirmed across 85 Russian regions, including 3,322 cases (14.1%) without clinical symptoms," the statement said, adding that the rate of increase grew to 0.43%.
Besides, Moscow confirmed 7,597 daily infections, up from 5,823 the day before. The Russian capital was followed by the Moscow region with 2,663 cases, up from 2,583 the day before, and St. Petersburg with 1,612 cases, up from 1,503 the day before.
The response centre reported a new record of 672 fatalities linked to the coronavirus, up from 669 the day before, raising the country's death toll to 135,886.
In the same 24 hours, 16,928 COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals across the country, up from 16,356 the day before, bringing the total to 5,017,321.
Meanwhile, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on Thursday said the city's health clinics are all set to begin offering booster vaccine shots against COVID-19 amid the highly infectious Delta variant, reported Reuters. Sobyanin said revaccination was available with any of Russia’s four registered vaccines, but that the flagship Sputnik V and the one-component Sputnik-Light would initially be used at eight clinics across the city.
The health ministry had on Wednesday said revaccination would begin on July 1, making Russia one of the first countries in the world to officially launch a booster shot programme for people already fully vaccinated. The health ministry had issued new regulations that officially recommended revaccination, news agencies said.
(With ANI inputs)
