Russia registers 24,703 new cases of Covid-19, 998 deaths, lowest number since mid-Oct, in past 24 hours - HQ

MOSCOW. Dec 24 (Interfax) - Russia has registered 24,703 new cases of Covid-19 and 998 deaths, which is the lowest number since the middle of October, in the past 24 hours, the coronavirus response headquarters said in a statement on Friday.

"Over the past day, 24,703 Covid-19 cases were confirmed in 85 regions of Russia, including 1,790 asymptomatic cases identified proactively (7.2%)," the headquarters said.

The coronavirus morbidity curve has been on decline in Russia, and the number of cases reported on Friday correlates to the number seen on the first days of October when a new surge in infections began. Nowadays, a decline in the number of new cases of Covid-19 is reported on a practically daily basis.

According to the headquarters, there were 2,126 new infections in Moscow in the past 24 hours, as against 3,062 the day before, as well as 2,117 new infections in St. Petersburg and 1,270 in the Moscow region.

The daily coronavirus mortality has also been reducing in Russia: fewer than 1,000 patients (998) died over the past day, for the first time since October 16.

There were 75 deaths in Moscow, 57 in the Moscow region, and 55 in St. Petersburg.

Since the beginning of the coronavirus epidemic in Russia, it has registered a total of 10,343,353 cases of Covid-19, including 302,269 deaths and 9,180,379 recoveries, including 41,213 persons discharged from hospital over the past day, 2,772 of them in Moscow.

The Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor) said on Friday that Russia has performed more than 237.3 million Covid-19 diagnostic tests to date, including 521,000 over the past day. As many as 1,456,333 people remain under medical observation.