Putin Opens COVID-19 Drug Plant as Russia Reports Daily Record

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday inaugurated a pharmaceutical plant in Siberia that will manufacture drugs to treat COVID-19 as the country reported record high numbers of new coronavirus infections and deaths.

Russia has experienced a surge in infections since September, but authorities have resisted imposing lockdowns, relying instead on targeted measures in certain regions.

Speaking at the inauguration via video link, Putin said the plant would produce COVID-19 drugs, as well as medicine used to treat tuberculosis, diabetes, hepatitis and other diseases.

"People need these drugs," he said. "They need them literally every day."

Russia reported a record high of 25,487 new coronavirus infections on Thursday and 524 deaths in the last 24 hours, the highest numbers it has reported since the start of the pandemic.

Roszdravnadzor, the healthcare watchdog, said on Thursday that some regions in the country of around 145 million were running out of hospital beds for COVID-19 patients, the TASS and RIA news agencies reported./MSN