MOSCOW: Russia on Friday reported 12,505 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, its highest number of daily infections since late February, taking the national tally to 5,180,454 since the pandemic began.

The capital, Moscow, expects to see a peak in infections in June or July, Russian news agencies quoted Mayor Sergei Sobyanin as saying on state TV. Sobyanin added that around half of Moscow’s residents had developed immunity.

“We thought the spring peak of the pandemic would come in April-May, as last year, but in fact it has shifted to June-July and is pretty high,” the RIA news agency quoted him as saying.

He added that current restrictions in the city would not be intensified, TASS news agency reported.

The government’s coronavirus task force said 396 more people had died, pushing the national death toll to 125,674.

The federal statistics agency has kept a separate toll and has said that Russia recorded around 270,000 deaths related to COVID-19 between April 2020 and April 2021.

Published in Dawn, June 12th, 2021