Daily COVID-19 deaths in Russia have topped 1,200 for a fourth consecutive day as a surge in infections from the coronavirus continues.
The coronavirus crisis center said on November 12 that 1,295 people had died from COVID-19 over the previous 24 hours, with 40,123 new cases being detected.
With cases and deaths hovering around record levels, hospitals have been filling up with patients, putting a strain on the country's health-care system.
The country recently introduced a paid holiday from October 30 to November 7 in an effort to lessen workers' exposure to COVID-19. Stay-at-home orders were issued for older adults and businesses are required to have 30 percent of their staffs work from home.
Officials have blamed the surge in cases in part on the reluctance of Russians to get vaccinated. Even though the country has several domestically produced vaccines, only about one-third of the population is vaccinated.
The country has recorded almost 9 million coronavirus infections and just under 253,000 related deaths.
But critics and some health experts have accused officials of skewing the numbers to cover up a much higher death count, making the situation in hospitals even more precarious, they say.
