Russia's new COVID-19 infections, deaths near all-time highs

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s daily coronavirus infections and deaths hovered near all-time highs Monday amid sluggish vaccination rates and the Kremlin's reluctance to toughen restrictions.

Russia's state coronavirus task force reported 29,409 new confirmed cases — the highest number since the year’s start and just slightly lower than the pandemic record reached in December.

After registering the highest daily death toll since the start of the pandemic at 968 over the weekend, it reported 957 new deaths on Monday.

Russia already has Europe’s highest death toll in the pandemic — more than 217,000, according to a government task force. The state statistics agency, which uses a different way of counting including when the coronavirus wasn’t considered the main cause of death, has reported about 418,000 deaths of people with COVID-19.

A sharp rise in infections and deaths began last month with the government attributing it to a slow vaccination rate. Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said Friday that 47.8 million Russians, or almost 33% of the nearly 146 million population had received at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine, and 42.4 million, or about 29%, were fully vaccinated.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov voiced concern about a surge in infections and deaths and noted that hospitals in some regions are close to their capacity.

“The vaccination level we have is too low, impermissibly low,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters. “That is why we have mortality numbers that are so high. We are using every opportunity to make a simple call on all citizens — go ahead and get the shot."

But while deploring the laggard pace of vaccination, Peskov rejected the idea of imposing fines on those who fail to get the vaccine and emphasized that it's up to regional...