That tally was published only three weeks ago. Interestingly, the health watchdog's new calculation is considerably higher than the 444 measured by an online memorial set up by medical workers themselves. It's also remarkable in the context of the official overall national death toll of 7,760.

"More than half a million people in Russia are really sick (from the infection) and, unfortunately, more than 7,500 thousand people have died today, of whom 489 are medical workers,"Roszdravnadzor's chief, Alla Samoilova told an online conference. "We, unfortunately, lost nearly 500 of our colleagues."

Samoilova also warned that the pandemic has not ended in Russia. However, during a government meeting on Wednesday Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin noted a steady decline in the rate of increase of the disease, across the country. The growth rate of new cases per day now averages only 1.4%. On Tuesday, the daily number of new recorded infections was the lowest since April 30.

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