MOSCOW

The coronavirus situation in Moscow is improving and the number of cases is falling, the capital's mayor said on Monday.

"I must say that the morbidity rate has been going down for four weeks in a row. Over the past week, we have already seen a significant drop in new infections and hospitalizations," Sergey Sobyanin told a meeting at a Moscow hospital.

He added that 6,000 beds repurposed for the treatment of COVID-19 patients can now be used by ordinary patients, a sign of improvement in the city's epidemiological situation.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also praised the efforts of the capital's authorities, saying they proved their efficiency in countering the pandemic many times.

In a separate statement, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko urged the public to get vaccinated before autumn when seasonal flu-like illnesses and COVID-19 could worsen the situation.

Murashko confirmed that it is possible to get infected with COVID-19 even after getting vaccinated, but with mild symptoms and mostly without any need for hospitalization.

Russia's coronavirus task force reported 24,633 new cases, 719 related deaths, and 18,764 recoveries, pushing the total to 5.98 million infections, and 149,138 related deaths.

Nearly 53 million vaccine doses have been administered, but only 14.3% of the country's 145 million population has been fully inoculated, according to Our World in Data, a tracking website affiliated with Oxford University.