Media: The Number Of Deaths From Coronavirus In Russia May Be Higher By 72%

Media: the number of deaths from coronavirus in Russia may be higher by 72%

The British newspaper Financial Times believes that the Russian authorities may significantly underestimate the death toll from the coronavirus.

Photo: Julia Ivanko / mos.ru

As the newspaper writes, according to official statistics, 629 patients with coronavirus infection died in April in Moscow and St. Petersburg. But at the same time, the total mortality rate in these two cities exceeded the average level over the past five years by 2073 people. Thus, for some reason, 1444 deaths remained unaccounted for.

According to the headquarters on May 12, the total number of Russians who died from coronavirus is 2,116. If you add unreported cases to it, it turns out that there are 72% more COVID-19 victims in Russia than indicated in the official data.

The Financial Times notes that the underreporting of mortality data from coronavirus can be even large, because the 72% estimate is based on data from Moscow and St. Petersburg, which published information on mortality in April. Data for the whole country will not be released until June.

Earlier, the New York Times published a detailed analysis of the death rate from coronavirus in different countries, from which it follows that at least 64,000 deaths were not counted for various reasons.

The publication notes that the difference between mortality rates from coronavirus and the overall mortality rate often indicates not an intentional underestimation of the number of deaths, but about the specifics of accounting. So, most countries include in official statistics only deaths from COVID-19 in the hospital, while often sick people die at home.

But this difference in numbers is especially noticeable in those countries that are slow to acknowledge the magnitude of the disaster. For example, in March and April, the Indonesian government reported 381 COVID-19 deaths, while more than 3,300 people were buried in Jakarta cemeteries during that period, above the annual average.