Russia reported 28,782 new cases of coronavirus on Saturday, the highest number of cases it has ever reported in a single day, according to data from the country’s coronavirus response center.
The total number of coronavirus cases in Russia as of Dec. 5 is 2,431,731.
The country reported 508 deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall official toll to 42,684.
Russia’s counting methods of Covid-19 deaths have been questioned by independent observers and demographers with CNN previously reporting the numbers could be vastly understated.
On vaccines: Vaccination centers across Moscow started to distribute Russia’s Sputnik V Covid-19 vaccine on Saturday.
The vaccine, developed by Russian scientists, still hasn’t completed Phase 3 of human trials.
“Civil vaccination has started at 70 points in Moscow today. We work from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week,” Natalya Nikolaevna Kuzenkova, chief doctor of Moscow’s Hospital 68, told CNN.
“Since our hospital took part in the post-registration trials, this vaccine is not new for us. We have vaccinated a fairly large number of the population during these studies, and all of our doctors and nurses know how to work with this vaccine,” she said.