In Russia, the number of deaths in 24 hours for the first time has exceeded 700.
In six of the last eight days, Russia has broken previous records for Covid-19 casualties.
More than 5.6 million people have been confirmed with the new coronavirus in the country since the pandemic began, and 139,316 people have died from Covid-19. However, officials have been accused of hiding the true number of deaths, and Covid-19 victim statistics include only those cases in which Covid-19 was identified as the leading cause of death at autopsy.
The new coronavirus delta, or Indian strain, is currently spreading rapidly in Russia, but the pace of the vaccination campaign has slowed.
In Moscow, which has become the epicenter of the virus outbreak in Russia, the delta or Indian variant accounts for 90% of new Covid-19 cases, Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.
To limit the spread of the virus, Sobyanin has ordered companies to organize work from home for 30% of unvaccinated workers, and restaurants will henceforth be allowed to serve only vaccinated people and people who have contracted Covid-19 indoors over the past six months.
Moscow has also become the first Russian city to demand that at least 60% of workers in the service sector be fully vaccinated by mid-August.
By July 6, only 1.8 million of the city’s 12 million people in Moscow had been vaccinated against Covid-19 and had completed the vaccination process, according to information published on the Gogov website, which follows pandemic statistics by region.
Across Russia, 18.2 million of 146 million Russians have completed the vaccination process.
An independent survey this week shows that 54% of Russians do not plan to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
Due to the slow pace of vaccination, the Russian authorities have abandoned the plan to vaccinate 60% of the population against Covid-19 by September 1.
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