Russia nears 100,000 daily infections as omicron rages

Russian authorities on Friday reported over 98,000 new confirmed coronavirus cases, but the Kremlin said the actual number is likely to be much greater as the highly contagious omicron variant continues to rage through the vast country.

Russia's state coronavirus task force registered 98,040 new infections tallied over the past 24 hours — another all-time high for the country that in recent weeks has faced its biggest surge of contagions in the pandemic.