Russia reports 8,861 new COVID-19 cases, 401 deaths

FILE PHOTO: People rest on the Spit of Vasilievsky Island with the St. Isaac's Cathedral in the background on the first day of holidays ordered by President Vladimir Putin to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in central Saint Petersburg, Russia March 28, 2020. REUTERS/Anton Vaganov/File Photo

Russia on Wednesday reported 8,861 new COVID-19 cases, including 1,431 in Moscow, pushing the national case tally to 4,483,471 since the pandemic began.

The government coronavirus taskforce said that 401 people had died in the last 24 hours, pushing its death toll to 96,219.

(Reporting by Gleb Stolyarov; writing by Tom Balmforth; editing by Maria Kiselyova)