Moscow, Dec 9 (TIWN) At least 28,782 additional people in Russia have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, which marked the highest single-day spike in the number of confirmed cases since the onset of the pandemic earlier this year, health authorities said on Saturday.

The new figure recorded in the last 24 hours has increased the country's overall caseload to 2,431,731, TASS News Agency quoted the anti-coronavirus crisis centre as saying in its latest update.  Of the new cases, the highest was recorded in St. Petersburg (3,726), while the Moscow region came in second (1,246), according to the centre.  Currently, the coronavirus growth rate is the lowest in the Chukotka autonomous region (0.5 per cent).  In the same period, there were 508 coronavirus fatalities, down from 569 the day before, the centre said, adding that the death toll has now climbed to 42,684.