Russia hits another grim record of daily coronavirus deaths

MOSCOW

Russia recorded on Tuesday another daily coronavirus death toll record as 1,178 people died over the past day, taking the overall count to 240,871.

Over the same period, the daily infections rose by 39,008 to a total of 8.59 million, while active cases are closing to 1 million -- currently standing at 939,698 -- Russia's coronavirus emergency task force said in a daily report.

Recoveries went up by 30,905 since Monday to reach 7.41 million, the report said.

Three cases of the "mu" strain and one "lambda" case were identified in Russia, the authorities said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the coronavirus situation in Russia "very difficult," noting that the number of active cases is the highest since the beginning of the pandemic.

The country's western Nizhegorodskaya Oblast region expanded the non-working period in Russia till Nov. 14 to cope with the surge in cases.

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

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed more than 5 million lives in 192 countries and regions, with over 247 million cases reported worldwide, according to the US' Johns Hopkins University.