Kremlin calls rise in Russian COVID-19 cases cause for serious concern

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Thursday that a rise in new coronavirus cases in Russia was a cause for serious concern and warned that numbers could rise even quicker unless people took heed of the situation and protected themselves.

Russia reported 11,493 new coronavirus cases earlier on Thursday, just short of the most confirmed in a single day during the pandemic, pushing the overall total to 1,260,112.

(Reporting by Tom Balmforth and Dmitry Antonov; editing by Andrew Osborn)