Iclal Turan
14 January 2021•Update: 14 January 2021
ANKARA
As authorities prepare to kick off a mass vaccination drive, Russia reported 24,763 more coronavirus cases on Thursday, raising its overall count above 3.49 million.
According to official data, 5,893 of the new cases were in the capital Moscow and 3,041 in St. Petersburg.
The daily COVID-19 fatality count stood at 570, up from 566 the day before, taking the nationwide death toll to 63,940.
Recoveries increased by 27,956 to reach 2.88 million, the data showed.
Coronavirus infections have surged in Russia this month, with a record high of 26,301 reported on Jan. 2.
On Wednesday, President Vladimir Putin ordered officials to launch a nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive by next week.
“We need to move from large-scale to mass vaccination,” he told Cabinet members.
Tatyana Golikova, Russia’s deputy prime minister, told the president that authorities were prepared to scale up the ongoing immunization campaign from next Monday.
