More than 62,000 Russians were tested positive for HIV this year, the acting head of Russia’s sanitary watchdog said on Tuesday.

      “As of December 1, 2013, there were 783,210 HIV-positive in Russia. A total of 62,250 new cases have been registered in the past 11 months,” Anna Popova, acting head of Rospotrebnadzor, said.

      She also added that nearly 24.6 million Russians had taken HIV tests over the same period, which is 100% of planned annual amount.

      According to previous reports, almost 20,000 people died in Russia during 2012 as a result of contracting the virus. The number of HIV-positive people in Russia continue to grow steadily. "Unfortunaly, we can't act calm yet, the risks of HIV infection are still to high", Popova said.

      About 22 to 22 million people in Russia pass free-will HIV tests every year, which is 15-17% of the commonwealth.