World / Russia reports over 900 COVID-19 deaths in 24 hours for first time

Moscow: Russia on Wednesday reported more than 900 daily coronavirus deaths for the first time, as the country struggles with stubbornly high infection rates driven by the Delta variant and low vaccination take-up.

A government tally recorded 929 Covid-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, Russia's highest daily virus death toll since the outbreak of the pandemic.

The new figures bring Russia's total deaths from coronavirus to 212,625 -- the highest toll in Europe.

The world's fifth worst-hit country with more than 7.5 million infections, Russia has seen cases climb since August as vaccinations stalled.

While several Russia-made jabs have been available for months, authorities have struggled to inoculate a vaccine-sceptic population.

Independent polls show that more than half of Russians do not plan to get a shot.

As of Wednesday, just under 30 percent of the population had been fully vaccinated, according to the Gogov website, which tallies Covid-19 data from the regions.

The surging infections have come without any real pandemic restrictions to limit the spread, but several regions have re-introduced QR codes for access to public places.

But Moscow -- the epicentre of Russia's outbreak -- has so far withheld from bringing back restrictions.

Authorities say that the highly contagious Delta variant now accounts for all of the cases in the Russian capital.

Independent experts have accused authorities of downplaying the severity of the outbreak.

Under a broader definition for deaths linked to the coronavirus, statistics agency Rosstat reported in August that Russia had seen more than 350,000 fatalities.