Russian region runs out of hospital beds as COVID-19 deaths hit record

MOSCOW: A Russian region near Moscow has run out of hospital beds for coronavirus patients, its governor said on Tuesday, as the country's daily COVID-19 death toll hit a record and the Kremlin told citizens to take responsibility and get vaccinated.

Russia's COVID-19 task force reported 1,015 coronavirus-related deaths in the past 24 hours, the highest single-day toll since the start of the pandemic, as well as 33,740 new infections, just shy of a record daily rise, with authorities blaming the surge on a slow vaccination campaign.

"There is a tradition of blaming the state for everything. Of course, the state feels and knows its share of responsibility," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday, admitting that more could have been done to explain the importance of vaccination to the public.