Moscow: Russia’s state statistics service on Monday reported 162,429 deaths related to COVID-19 in Russia last year, a tally that is much higher than previously reported and amounts to the world’s third highest death toll from the disease in 2020.
The figure is almost three times higher than the 57,555 deaths attributed to COVID-19 in 2020 by Russia’s coronavirus task force, and confirms comments by a deputy prime minister last year suggesting the toll was higher than reported.
Medical workers wearing protective gear to protect against coronavirus infection, carry a patient at an infectious diseases hospital where patients with coronavirus are treated in St Petersburg, Russia.Credit:AP
The data could renew questions about how the COVID-19 death toll is calculated in Russia and about how effective Russia’s handling of the pandemic has been, despite developing the Sputnik-V vaccine against the disease.
Russian authorities imposed a lockdown during the first wave of the pandemic last year, but resisted doing so again in September when the daily number of cases began to rise, saying targeted measures were enough.
