Updated statistics from Russia on coronavirus-related deaths showed that more than 100,000 people with COVID-19 died in the pandemic in December. This number is much higher than previously reported by government officials.
According to data released on Monday by the Russian state statistics agency, Rosstat, a total of 116,030 people with COVID-19 died in Russia between April and November. The count included cases where the virus was not the leading cause of death and the virus was suspected but not confirmed.
The data also showed that the number of deaths from all causes in the first 11 months of this year grew by 229,700, or almost 14%, compared to the same period in 2019.
Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said at a government meeting on Monday that the increase reported by Rosstat is mostly related to the coronavirus.
“I would like to note that more than 81% of the increase in mortality in this period (between January and November) is related to COVID and the consequences of being infected with COVID,” said Golikova.
Golikova’s comment suggests that about 186,000 deaths may be linked to the coronavirus.
Both Rosstat’s count and Golikova’s assessment are much higher than the 55,827 pandemic deaths reported by the Russian government’s coronavirus task force and which include deaths in December.
The relatively low death toll of the Russian task force, which is reflected in figures released by the World Health Organization, raised questions among experts at home and abroad since the count of confirmed coronavirus cases in Russia has become one of the highest in the world.
Critics and Western media have claimed that Russian officials may have falsified the figures for political purposes to minimize the scale of the outbreak – accusations that officials have criticized.
Russian officials attributed the differences between the figures reported by the task force and Rosstat to different counting methods. The task force told Interfax news agency in August that its count includes only deaths in which COVID-19 was the main cause.
Officials also said the task force uses data collected from medical facilities, while Rosstat obtains its numbers from civil registry offices, where the process of registering a death is finalized.