Russia’s Moscow detects record-high number of COVID-19 cases

Daily cases of COVID-19 hit an all-time high in Moscow on Friday, official data showed, as the number of new cases in the Russian capital tripled in two weeks to reach 9,056 amid talk of a third wave.

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Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Friday he was extending restrictions that he had imposed earlier such as bans on public events with more than 1,000 people, shutting cafes and restaurants at night, and closing soccer fan zones set up for the European Championship.

Russia, the world’s largest country, on Friday reported 17,262 new COVID-19 cases nationwide, pushing the national infection tally to 5,281,309 since the pandemic began.

The government coronavirus task force confirmed 453 coronavirus-related deaths in the past 24 hours nationwide, taking the death toll to 128,445.

The state statistics agency, which keeps separate figures, has said that Russia recorded around 270,000 deaths related to COVID-19 from April 2020 to April 2021.

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