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.