Russia breaks daily COVID-19 death record

Russia broke its daily COVID-19 death record on Thursday as the country, like much of the world, deals with a new surge in cases.

Moscow’s national coronavirus task force announced there were 820 deaths in 24 hours along with 19,630 new infections, The Associated Press reported.

The previous highest daily death toll from the coronavirus officially reported by Russia occurred on Aug. 14 with 819 deaths. 

Only have 24 percent of Russians are fully vaccinated, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. 

Russia began requiring vaccinations for certain job industries in early July in an attempt to increase its vaccination rate.

“The reality is such that discrimination will inevitably set in. People without vaccination or immunity will not be able to work everywhere. It is not possible. It will pose a threat to those around them,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in June.

Russia has been consistently breaking its daily death toll this summer as the delta variant has spread quickly through the country.

Throughout the pandemic, more than 6.7 million cases have been reported with more than 175,000 deaths.