Russia records 23,543 new Covid-19 cases

Moscow, July 2 Russia recorded 23,543 new coronavirus infections over the past 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally to 5,538,142, the official monitoring and response centre said on Thursday.

The nationwide death toll grew by 672 to 135,886, while the number of recoveries increased by 16,928 to 5,017,321, Xinhua reported.

Meanwhile, Moscow, Russia's worst-hit region, reported 7,597 new cases, taking its total to 1,365,812.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin on Thursday urged the public to get revaccinated if necessary to receive greater protection against the aggressive Delta variant.

Anna Popova, head of the country's consumer rights and human well-being watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, said on Tuesday that a case linked to the Delta Plus variant has already been detected in Russia.

According to official data, 39,328,425 doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered in Russia as of Tuesday.