Russia resists nationwide lockdown despite record daily Covid-19 deaths

Russia is refusing to implement a national lockdown despite record daily Covid-19 deaths and surging case numbers near all-time highs.

The country's coronavirus taskforce reported 973 deaths on Tuesday, the highest since the start of the pandemic, according to AP.

It comes after the country repeatedly reached new record daily death counts this month. There were 28,190 new cases reported on Tuesday.

The task force says there have been more than 7.8 million Covid-19 cases and 218,345 deaths in total, the highest in Europe.

However, Russia's state statistics agency Rosstat, which also counts deaths where the virus was not the main cause, puts the figure at around 418,000, which would make Russia the fourth worst-hit country behind the US, Brazil and India.

Currently, 11 per cent of the country's 235,000 hospitalised Covid-19 patients are in serious or critical condition.

Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo / Getty Images

But despite the surging deaths and cases, the Kremlin has ruled out a nationwide lockdown, the AP reports.

Instead, decisions on coronavirus restrictions have been delegated to regional authorities.

In response to the recent surge, some regions have implemented restrictions on large public gatherings and implemented vaccination requirements for restaurants and other venues – but life in the capital Moscow and other large cities remains largely normal.

Russia has not had a nationwide lockdown since early last year.

The "non-working" period, announced in late March 2020, ended on May 12.

President Vladimir Putin said at the time that Russia had used the self-isolation period to prepare its healthcare system, increasing the amount of hospital beds and saving "many thousands of lives".

Medical workers move a patient on a stretcher outside St Petersburg's Pokrovskaya Municipal Hospital as they admit Covid-19 patients. Photo / Getty Images

"[This] allows us to begin a gradual lifting of restrictions," he said during a televised meeting with officials responsible for the country's virus response.

"It is in the interest of all of us for the economy to return to normal quickly. The epidemic and associated restrictions have had a strong impact on the economy and hurt millions of our citizens."

According to the AP, Russia has blamed the sharp rise in cases and deaths on slow vaccination rates.

Only around 29 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated, and less than 33 per cent have had one dose, the government said on Friday.