This comes in conjunction with the outbreak of the mutant Omicron, which is rapidly spreading throughout the country.
The Russian government’s task force to combat the coronavirus has recorded 121,288 new infections in the past 24 hours – the highest level ever seen in Russia.
The number of injuries in the country has increased catastrophically since early January, when the authorities were recording only about 15,000 new injuries daily.
The task force said that 668 people died of corona last day, bringing the total number of deaths in Russia due to the pandemic to 330,728 cases, the largest number in Europe.
Despite the spike in infections, authorities have avoided imposing any major restrictions to stem the increase, saying the health system is dealing with an influx of infected people.
Russia has imposed a nationwide lockdown only once in 2020, and authorities ordered many Russians off work for a week in October last year amid a jump in infections and deaths.
About half of Russia’s population of 146 million has been fully joined by the government, despite Russia’s boasting of being the first country in the world to adopt and launch a domestically developed vaccine.