Moscow’s COVID-19 infections hit record high

Moscow reported its highest-ever number of new coronavirus infections Friday, as the city’s health authorities warned "new, aggressive mutations" of the virus were spreading at an alarming pace.

Russia’s national coronavirus task force confirmed 9,056 new Covid-19 cases in Moscow over the last 24 hours - a 46% surge on the previous day.

Mayor Sergei Sobyanin moved Friday to extend a limited number of restrictions in the capital in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus. Among other measures, Sobyanin ordered the Euro 2020 fan park to close, cancelled mass events with over 1,000 participants, and extended an 11 p.m. curfew for bars and restaurants.

The previous highest number of cases reported in Moscow was 8,203 on Dec. 24, during the midst of the country’s second wave of the virus.

Some 1.8 million Moscow residents have been vaccinated with at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine, Sobyanin said Thursday - around 15% of the population.

But leading health figures have warned that the impact of accelerated vaccinations will take weeks to have any impact on the spread of infections, and Moscow is still far from hitting the kind of vaccination levels needed to approach herd immunity. 

Nationwide Russia reported 17,262 new coronavirus cases Friday - a 23% increase and the highest daily figure since Feb. 1, the anti-coronavirus crisis center said on Friday. The total case count has reached 5,281,309.

According to data from the crisis center, the coronavirus growth rate stood at 0.33%. The rate was the lowest in the North Ossetia-Alania region (0.05%), the Adygea region (0.06%), the Tuva, Karachay-Circassian, Ingushetia and Kabardino-Balkaria regions (0.07%).

In particular, 1,254 cases were reported in the Moscow region in the past day, 970 in St. Petersburg, 223 in the Buryatia region, 218 in the Nizhny Novgorod region, and 186 in the Voronezh region.

There are currently 302,205 active coronavirus cases in Russia.

Russia’s coronavirus fatalities grew by 453 in the past 24 hours compared to 416 deaths confirmed a day earlier, this is the highest number since March 18. So far, 128,445 people have died since the start of the pandemic.

The conditional mortality rate remains at 2.43%, as follows from the data provided by the crisis center.

Russia’s coronavirus recoveries grew by 10,954 in the past 24 hours reaching 4,850,659.

According to the crisis center, recoveries stand at about 92% of the total number of infected people.

Specifically, another 1,466 patients recovered in St. Petersburg, 889 in the Moscow Region, 202 in the Rostov Region, 178 in Buryatia and 171 in the Voronezh Region.