Russia adds 27,403 new Coronavirus cases

Moscow: Russia on Friday reported 27,403 new coronavirus cases, down from the all-time high of 28,145 a day earlier, according to health authorities.

The country's Covid-19 response centre said that the new cases increased the overall infection tally to 2,402,949, while the death toll and recoveries stood at 42,176 and 1,888,752, respectively, Xinhua news agency reported.

Moscow, the country's worst-hit region, reported 6,868 new cases in this period, bringing the captial city's total to 632,057.

Russia currently ranks fourth globally in terms of the overall caseload.

So far, over 78.2 million Covid-19 tests have been conducted across the country.

Russia plans to begin large-scale vaccinations against the coronavirus next week on a voluntary basis and free of charge.