The number of coronavirus cases in the country exceeded half a million after 8,779 new infections were reported on June 11, Russia’s emergency task force said in a daily report.  

Recoveries reached 261,150 after 8,367 more people were successfully cured and discharged from hospitals, it added.

The COVID-15-linkred death toll reportedly stands at 6,532, a number the World Health Organization has cast doubt over.

Russia has the third-most cases of the virus in the world following the United States, with more than 2 million, and Brazil, which has recorded almost 775,000.

Speaking at a video conference with government officials on Wednesday, Russia’s chief sanitary officer Anna Popova said there was "a clear downward trend in daily increments."

She stressed that there were two different outbreak development processes ongoing in Russia, one in Moscow and the other across the country.