Russia's cases top 10,000 for 6th day

Moscow: Russia on Friday has recorded 10,699 new coronavirus cases, marking the sixth straight day with more than 10,000 positive tests. The new cases took the overall number of cases in the country to 187,859, reports the BBC. With the emergence of 98 new fatalities, the death toll now stands at 1,723.

Meanwhile, Britain on Friday declared 414 more coronavirus deaths including a six-week-old baby who is thought to be Britain's youngest known victim, taking the UK's official fatality toll past 31,000 on the 75th anniversary of VE day. The preliminary toll - yet to be confirmed by officials - is calculated by adding up the individual updates from each of the home nations. NHS England today recorded 332 more COVID-19 deaths, followed by Scotland (49), Wales (28) and Northern Ireland (5).

One of the victims in England was just six weeks old and had an underlying condition - but officials did not reveal what this was or whether they died directly from the killer infection. NHS sources said they are presumed to be Britain's youngest fatality and separate Government figures show the youngest known victim in England and Wales before today was between one and four.

The Department of Health has yet to release the final daily toll, which takes into account care home fatalities in England and also provides an update on cases, hospital admissions and testing. Britain's death toll this week surpassed Italy's, meaning it has now recorded more victims than any other nation in Europe. The US is the only country to have fared worse, with 75,000 fatalities.

But thousands of victims are being missed from the official count because of a recording lag and the fact health chiefs only take into account people who tested positive for the disease. The true size of Britain's actual COVID-19 outbreak remains a mystery because health chiefs controversially made the choice to abandon mass testing early on in the crisis - despite clear warnings from top scientists that it was the only way to get a grip on the deadly virus.

Surveillance schemes from across the world suggest the true death rate is 0.75 per cent, suggesting up to 6million Brits have been infected. This figure is 30 times bigger than the official number provided by the Department of Health, with figures showing only 206,000 cases have been confirmed.