MOSCOW, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) - Russia confirmed 968 COVID-19-related fatalities over the past 24 hours, the highest daily count in the country, bringing the national death toll to 215,453, the official monitoring and response center said Saturday.

A total of 29,362 new COVID-19 infections were registered, up from 27,246 the day before, taking the nationwide tally to 7,746,718, the center said, adding that the number of recoveries increased by 21,049 to 6,840,845.

Meanwhile, Moscow reported 6,001 new cases, up from 4,595 the day before, taking the city's total to 1,674,065.

More than 44.9 million Russians have been fully vaccinated, according to media reports.