Coronavirus cases in Russia exceed 1.5M

MOSCOW

The number of Russians exposed to the novel coronavirus passed 1.5 million on Sunday, officials said.

Over the last 24 hours, 16,710 new COVID-19 infections were registered, taking the total number of active cases to 349,305, the country's virus task force said in its daily report.

Russia, which has a population of around 145 million, has reported over 1,513,877 cases, the fourth largest tally in the world.

Virus-linked fatalities rose by 229, pushing the overall death toll to 26,050, while recoveries went up by 7,704 to more than 1.13 million.

Authorities say it can take about half a year to stabilize the situation, and several years to overcome the harm it has caused.

Despite a rising number of cases, authorities have ruled out blanket restrictions to combat the spread of the disease. Russia was under a nationwide lockdown from the end of March till mid-May.

The city of Moscow, however, has asked businesses that at least a third of their staff must work remotely.

In some regions educational institutions, including schools and universities, have also reverted to remote learning.