Russia has confirmed more than 25,000 new coronavirus infections in a single day for the first time since the pandemic hit earlier this year.
Health officials reported 25,173 new infections across Russia’s 85 regions Monday, bringing the national total to 2,114,502 cases. The country surpassed 2 million cases three days ago.
Over 23% of those infected did not exhibit symptoms, Russia’s national coronavirus information center said. Officials say infection rates per 100,000 people have more than doubled from 6.1 in October to 15.3 in November.
The information center’s total coronavirus death toll rose to 36,540, a figure widely believed to be undercounted due to tallying methods, after reporting 361 deaths in the past 24 hours.
The virus has increasingly strained hospitals in the regions as the second wave has intensified, with severe shortages of hospital beds, staff and medicine reported across the country.
President Vladimir Putin last week described the surge in infections and deaths as “alarming,” acknowledging that patients in several regions experienced long waiting times for ambulances. He noted however that authorities were in control of the situation.
In recent weeks Russia has re-imposed a nationwide mask mandate and advised regional leaders to restrict hours for bars, nightclubs and other late-night establishments but has held off on wider lockdown measures, citing the need to keep businesses open.
Russia’s coronavirus information center said 16,002 people have recovered from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing total recoveries to 1,611,445.
