Russia reports 25,116 new COVID-19 cases, 787 deaths

Russia is in the grip of a surge in cases that authorities have blamed on the contagious Delta variant and the slow rate of vaccinations. The government coronavirus task force said 787 people had died of coronavirus-linked causes in the past 24 hours, pushing the national death toll to 147,655.

Russia reported 25,116 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, including 4,561 in Moscow, taking the official national tally since the pandemic began to 5,933,115. Russia is in the grip of a surge in cases that authorities have blamed on the contagious Delta variant and the slow rate of vaccinations.

The government coronavirus task force said 787 people had died of coronavirus-linked causes in the past 24 hours, pushing the national death toll to 147,655. The federal statistics agency has kept a separate count and has said Russia recorded around 290,000 deaths related to COVID-19 from April 2020 to May 2021.