On Wednesday, Russia saw another record number of daily COVID-19 deaths at 984, with just 29 percent of the population fully vaccinated.

The government's coronavirus task force reported the record number of deaths in one day, the country's new pandemic high. Russia has broken its record high daily death tolls several times this month as infection rates also reach near all-time highs. On Wednesday, 28,717 new cases were reported.

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said Tuesday that only about 43 million Russians, or about 29 percent of the country's population of nearly 146 million people, were fully vaccinated.

Slow vaccination rates have contributed to the increased spread and number of deaths from the virus, the Kremlin has said. However, the government remained reluctant to require vaccinations or enforce lockdown measures to curb the spread of the virus.

President Vladimir Putin has emphasized the need to speed up the vaccination rate, but he also has cautioned against forcing people to get the shots by applying administrative pressure. Experts have attributed the slow pace of vaccination to widespread vaccine skepticism and disinformation about COVID-19 vaccines.

The Kremlin has ruled out a new nationwide lockdown like the one during the first months of the pandemic that badly crippled the economy and dented Putin's ratings, delegating the power to enforce coronavirus restrictions to regional authorities.

(With input from agencies)