MOSCOW, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Russia confirmed 24,763 new COVID-19 cases over the last 24 hours, taking its nationwide tally to 3,495,816, the country's COVID-19 response center said Thursday.

Meanwhile, 570 more deaths were reported, taking the national death toll to 63,940, the center said.

Some 27,956 patients have recovered in the past day, taking the total recoveries to 2,882,044, it said.

Moscow, which remains to be hardest-hit, has logged a total of 877,428 cases, including 5,893 in the past 24 hours.

In a meeting with government members on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the country's noticeable trend in the decrease of COVID-19 cases should not be perceived as reassuring, and ordered the start of a vaccination program on a larger scale from next week.

Over 95 million COVID-19 tests have been conducted across the country.