Russians told to stay away from work as daily Covid-19 cases hit record high

A funeral worker carries a coffin cover for a patient who died of Covid-19 at Infectious Hospital No 5 in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia (Roman Yarovitcyn/AP)

Russia has reported another daily record of confirmed coronavirus cases as a surge in infections prompted the Kremlin to tell most people to stay away from work starting later this week.

The Russian government’s coronavirus task force tallied 37,930 new confirmed cases in 24 hours, the highest number since the start of the pandemic.