BELGOROD, June 27. /TASS/. There has been a rise in COVID-19 cases in Russia’s big cities, so vaccination should be scaled up to counter this spike, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko told reporters on Saturday.

"Of course, it would be better if people understood that the earlier we do it (get vaccinated against COVID-19 - TASS), the better. Because we see an increase in cases in big cities, and we need to do it especially when planning a vacation," the minister said.

Murashko pointed out that vaccination is a collective safety factor. "Another important result of vaccination is that like many other countries, we focused on people over 60 at the beginning stages of vaccination, and now we see statistics showing that the infection rate and the lethality rate among people over 60 has gone down significantly," he said.

The minister commended Belgorod’s vaccination rate, noting that the Belgorod Region is one of the leaders when it comes to vaccination in Russia. He added that summer is a good period for vaccination, as there are fewer respiratory infections going around.