Russia‘s daily coronavirus deaths on Saturday crossed the 1,000 mark for the first time since the start of the pandemic amid lack of vaccination and restrictions. The 1,002 fatalities and 33,208 new infections breached the highs of the previous two days. Russia’s 222,315 COVID-19 fatalities are the highest in Europe and just 31% of Russians were fully vaccinated against coronavirus as of Saturday, according to the Gogov website. However, according to the Rosstat statistics agency, coronavirus had claimed lives of more than 400,000 Russians by the end of August.

Earlier this month, authorities shut down the biggest vaccination centre in Russia’s capital Moscow. The vaccination centre in Gostiny Dvor, a huge exhibition space, was closed on October 4 in preparation for “cultural events.” The closure came as Russia’s state coronavirus task force reported 895 new fatalities and 25,110 new cases of coronavirus on October 4. Daily infections had nearly quadrupled from about 1,100 in early September to about 4,000 in the first week of October in Moscow alone.

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A coronavirus patient was driven to a local government building in city of Vladimir 180 kilometers east of Moscow after an ambulance crew failed to find a hospital bed for her, according to media reports.

Health Minister Mikhail Murashko this week blamed the “behaviour” of vaccine-hesitant Russians for the surge. Critics say Russia is taking adequate measures to curb the spread of coronavirus as the country’s health care system may already be overwhelmed by the surge in cases. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the “main cause” of the record deaths reported in first week of October was “the insufficient level of vaccination.”

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“The virus is becoming angrier, and the level of vaccination is insufficient. And as a rule, those who haven’t been vaccinated get seriously ill and, unfortunately, die,” Peskov told reporters on October 5.

Independent polls show that more than half of Russians do not plan to get vaccinated, according to news agency AFP.