People wearing face masks to help curb the spread of the coronavirus ride a subway car in Moscow, Russia, June 10, 2021.Alexander Zemlianichenko/The Associated Press
Russia on Sunday reported 14,723 new COVID-19 cases, including 7,704 in Moscow, the largest one-day national caseload since Feb. 13.
The number of new infections in Moscow was the most reported in one day since Dec. 24. The city’s mayor told residents on Saturday to stay off work this coming week to curb the spread of the virus.
Sunday, Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said the city would give away free cars in a prize draw for residents who get the COVID-19 shot in an effort to speed up the sluggish rate of vaccinations amid surging coronavirus cases.
“This is only a temporary solution,” he said in a blog. “To avoid new restrictions and secure a sustainable improvement of the situation, we need to significantly speed up vaccinations.”
Mr. Sobyanin has publicly lamented how few residents have chosen to get the vaccine. He gave no new figures on Sunday for how many have had the shot. He said on May 21 that 1.3 million out of a population of more than 12 million had received one dose.
To boost demand, Mr. Sobyanin said that anyone over 18 who receives the first of a two-dose COVID-19 vaccine from June 14 until July 11 would now be automatically entered into a draw to win a car.
He said that five cars worth 1 million rubles (US$13,900) each would be given away every week.
Russia was the first country in the world to approve a COVID-19 vaccine for domestic use, prior to the start of large-scale trials. It began rolling out the Sputnik V shot in December and it was rapidly opened up to everyone in Moscow.
The coronavirus task force said on Sunday that 357 people had died of coronavirus-related causes nationwide, taking the death toll to 126,430.
The federal statistics agency has kept a separate toll and has said that Russia recorded about 270,000 deaths related to COVID-19 between April, 2020, and April, 2021.