Russia reports second straight day of record COVID-19 deaths

MOSCOW — Russia is reporting record coronavirus deaths for the second day in a row, but authorities say they are not considering imposing nationwide restrictions.

Russia’s state coronavirus task force on Wednesday registered 857 deaths, the country’s highest daily number of the pandemic. The previous record of 852 COVID-19 deaths was reported Tuesday.

New cases also have risen in recent weeks, increasing from about 18,000 confirmed a day in mid-September to some 22,000 this week. On Wednesday, Russia reported 22,430 new confirmed cases.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the numbers are “a serious cause for concern” but nationwide restrictions aren’t currently being discussed. Peskov pointed out that regional governments are empowered to introduce their own measures and some regions are doing that in light of the surging infections.

In all, Russian authorities have reported over 7.4 million confirmed infections and more than 206,000 deaths. However, reports by the government’s statistical service Rosstat that tally coronavirus-linked deaths retroactively reveal much higher mortality numbers.