Russia boasted last year of being first in the world to authorize a coronavirus vaccine MOSCOW: Russia reported 27,550 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, the biggest one-day tally it has recorded this year, amid a wave of infections that has pushed officials to urge people to get vaccinated. The government coronavirus task force also said that 924 people had died of coronavirus-linked causes in the last 24 hours, close to a record one-day toll.