These new data on people infected with the new coronavirus are based on a broader definition and closer to international standards.
The World with AFP
The Russian government admitted, Monday, December 29, some 186,000 deaths due to Covid-19 this year, a toll more than three times higher than the official count and which makes Russia the one of the most bereaved countries in the world. These new figures are based on a broader definition of victims infected with SARS-CoV-2, under a new accounting system closer to international standards.
These figures are opposed to those published daily by the government, forwarded to WHO and used for international comparisons, which only take into account Covid deaths confirmed by autopsy.
On Monday, the Rosstat statistics office reported an excess of mortality between January and November of 229,700 people, up 13.8% compared to the same period of 2019. And “more than 81% of this increase in mortality over this period is due to Covid and the consequences of the disease due to the coronavirus”, that is to say a little more than 186,000 deaths, indicated, according to the Russian news agencies, the Deputy Prime Minister in charge of health, Tatiana Golikova.
More than 25,000 dead in November
This report is t more than three times higher than the 55,265 official deaths recorded since the start of the pandemic on the Russian government site dedicated to the fight against the pandemic. The authorities, however, only count from day to day the Covid-19 deaths confirmed by an autopsy.
It is on the basis of these figures that President Vladimir Putin welcomed the fact, mi -December, that Russia had “better” managed the pandemic than in the West. But, according to Rosstat, in November alone, 25,788 people died from SARS-CoV-2 contamination.
The statistics agency classifies these deaths into three categories: those confirmed to have been caused by the Covid; those for which the Covid is suspected to be the main cause; and those where the Covid has accentuated other pathologies, causing death. This is the first time Rosstat has published detailed monthly figures, but it does not give those details for previous months.
No new containment envisaged
Rosstat figures place Russia now ranks third in the world in terms of deaths, behind the United States (over 330,000 dead) and Brazil (over 190,000), while the country, like the rest of the world, has been stricken since fall by a second epidemic wave. In October, according to Rosstat, Russia had already recorded 50,000 more deaths compared to 2019, including 22,761 linked to the coronavirus.
The Kremlin nevertheless rejected the idea of any new national confinement, after that spring, in order to preserve the economy, considering itself well prepared and counting on the effectiveness of its vaccine, Sputnik-V, which was deployed in early December. However, most regions have imposed the wearing of protective masks and limited access to certain places of recreation.