MOSCOW — Daily coronavirus deaths in Russia continue to hit record-highs this week, with the authorities reporting 786 deaths on Wednesday. The previous record, of 780 deaths, was registered on Tuesday.

Daily new infections in Russia have soared from around 9,000 in early June to more than 25,000 last week. On Wednesday, officials reported 23,827 new coronavirus cases. For the first time in the pandemic, the daily death toll exceeded 700 last Tuesday and remained at that level ever since.

Officials blamed the surge on the spread of the delta variant and sought to boost vaccine uptake, which has remained lower than in many Western countries. As of Tuesday, 28.6 million Russians — or just 19.5% of the 146 million population — have received at least one shot of a vaccine.

Russia’s state coronavirus task force has reported 5.8 million confirmed coronavirus cases and a total of 145,278 confirmed deaths in the pandemic. However, reports by Russia’s state statistical service Rosstat, which tallies coronavirus-linked deaths retroactively, reveal much higher numbers.