Russia hits another grim record of daily COVID-19 deaths

MOSCOW

Russia on Wednesday registered another grim record of daily coronavirus mortality, with 1,189 people dying over the past 24 hours, raising the overall count to 242,060.

Over the same period, infections rose by 40,443, bringing the country's caseload to 8.63 million and active cases to 946,145, Russia's coronavirus emergency task force said in a daily report.

In the last 24 hours, 32,807 people have recovered from COVID-19, increasing the total number of people who have recovered from the virus illness to 7.44 million since the pandemic began.

The majority of persons who died as a result of COVID-19 were unvaccinated, according to health authorities, who blamed certain people for not getting vaccinated in time.

Despite massive vaccine availability, Russia's immunization rate remains low, with only 32.64% of the population inoculated against COVID-19 as of Wednesday.

Meanwhile, a positive review of another Russian-made coronavirus vaccine, one-component Sputnik Light, was published in the medical journal Lancet, stating that it is effective, safe, and has no serious adverse effects.

Separately, Russian scientists announced that they have developed an express test that measures antibodies to COVID-19, which will help prevent forging vaccine certificates. The test will reveal if a person has been properly vaccinated or has just forged a certificate.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the coronavirus situation in Russia "very difficult." He stated that the number of active cases is at its highest level since the outbreak began.

To deal with the latest surge in the coronavirus cases, Nizhegorodskaya Oblast region has extended the non-working period until Nov. 14.

Starting Oct. 28, Russia will have a national 10-day non-working period aiming to stem the virus spread.

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed more than 5.01 million lives in 192 countries and regions, with over 247.6 million cases reported worldwide, according to the US' Johns Hopkins University.