MOSCOW — Coronavirus deaths in Russia hit a record on Friday amid a steady increase in infections.

Russia’s state coronavirus task force reported 828 new deaths on Friday, the country's highest daily number of the pandemic. The previous record of 820 daily deaths was registered on Aug. 26, and on Thursday this week the daily death toll reached 820 once again.

In all, Russian authorities have reported some 7.3 million confirmed cases and over 202,000 deaths. However, reports by the government’s statistical service Rosstat that tally coronavirus-linked deaths retroactively reveal much higher mortality numbers.

Daily coronavirus infections in Russia have fallen from over 20,000 in late August to about 18,000 in mid-September but started creeping up again last week. On Thursday and Friday, the state coronavirus task force reported over 21,000 new daily cases.

Despite the increase, the Kremlin is not considering the possibility of imposing a nationwide lockdown at this point, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday.

Hardly any restrictions are currently in place in Russia, which has had one lockdown that lasted for six weeks.