MOSCOW — Daily coronavirus deaths in Russia hit a record 780 as the country continued to struggle with a surge of infections.

For the first time in the pandemic, the daily death toll exceeded 700 last Tuesday and remained at that level since. There were 24,702 confirmed coronavirus cases on Tuesday. Daily new infections in Russia have soared from around 9,000 in early June to more than 25,000 last week.

Officials blame 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 over 5.8 million confirmed coronavirus cases and a total of 144,492 deaths in the pandemic. However, reports by Russia’s state statistical service Rosstat, which tallies coronavirus-linked deaths, has retroactively revealed much higher numbers.