Russia’s daily COVID-19 deaths hit new pandemic high

 A sign is on display outside a vaccination centre in the State Department Store, GUM, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in central Moscow, Russia June 25, 2021. A sign reads: “Vaccination against COVID-19”. REUTERS FILE PHOTO

MOSCOW — Russia reported 672 coronavirus-related deaths on Thursday, the most confirmed in a single day since the pandemic began, amid a surge in cases that authorities blame on the Delta variant.

The government coronavirus task force also confirmed 23,543 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the most since Jan. 17, including 7,597 in Moscow. That pushed the national case total to 5,538,142 since the start of the outbreak.

Russia’s national death toll now stands at 135,886. The federal statistics agency has kept a separate count and has said Russia recorded around 270,000 deaths related to COVID-19 from April 2020 to April 2021.