Moscow Reports 730 New COVID-19 Cases... Highest Since Late June

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeon Jin-young] Russia's daily new COVID-19 cases have risen to the 5,500 range, clearly indicating a resurgence. The capital, Moscow, recorded its highest number of new cases since the end of June.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Russia's COVID-19 task force announced on the 15th (local time) that "in the past day, 5,529 new infections were reported across 84 regions nationwide, including Moscow, bringing the total confirmed cases to 1,073,849." The number of new cases is the highest since July 27 (5,635 cases).

On this day, Moscow reported 730 new cases, bringing the cumulative total to 272,523. This is the highest since June 30, when 745 new cases were recorded. COVID-19 deaths across Russia increased by 150 in one day, totaling 18,785.

Experts analyze that the risk of transmission has increased as city residents return from vacations after the holiday season, and most schools resumed normal attendance starting from the 1st of this month.

Russian health authorities plan to maintain the current relaxed quarantine measures while responding to the spread of infection by expanding vaccinations with the domestically developed COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V. Mikhail Murashko, Russia's Minister of Health, stated that widespread vaccination for the general public will begin from late November to early December, when mass vaccine production becomes possible.

Earlier, on the 11th of last month, the Russian government officially approved the Sputnik V vaccine, developed by the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology under the Ministry of Health, as the world's first and allowed vaccination for the general public. However, concerns about safety arose because the vaccine was approved after only Phase 1 and 2 trials, skipping the usual Phase 3 trials, unlike typical vaccine development procedures.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.