Russia confirms record 67,000 new COVID-19 infections

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - Russia confirmed a record number of new COVID-19 infections on Tuesday for the fifth day running, registering 67,809 cases and pushing the overall count to 11.24 million.

As many as 681 virus patients also died, raising the death toll to 327,448, the country's emergency task force said in its daily report.

It said that the surge in numbers is due to the highly contagious omicron variant of coronavirus, which has been detected in 68 of 85 Russian regions. But the dominant variant is still Delta, accounting for over 50% of all cases.

While many schools and public services are either closing or switching to a remote mode of work, authorities are preparing additional beds in hospitals in case of a spike in hospitalization.

About half of Russia's 146 million people have been fully vaccinated. Those who received their primary vaccination more than six months ago are also eligible for a booster shot.