AKIPRESS.COM - Russia reported 8,831 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Thursday, taking the total number of infections across the country to 441,108, Reuters reports.

The country’s coronavirus crisis response centre said 169 people had died from the virus in the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide death toll to 5,384.

Officials say Russia's high virus count is the result of mass testing and that a steady decline in new infections and its low fatality numbers mean the country can begin to return to normal.