Russia’s updated statistics on coronavirus deaths show that more than 100,000 people with COVID-19 was killed in the pandemic in December. That number is much higher than previously reported by government officials.
According to data released Monday by the Russian state statistics agency Rosstat, a total of 116,030 people died with COVID-19 in Russia between April and November. The census included cases where the virus was not the leading cause of death and where the virus was suspected but not confirmed.
The data also showed that the number of all-cause deaths in the first 11 months of this year increased by 229,700, or nearly 14%, compared to the same period in 2019.
Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova told a government meeting on Monday that the increase reported by Rosstat is largely related to the coronavirus.
“I would like to note that more than 81% of the increase in mortality during this period (between January and November) is related to COVID and the consequences of COVID contamination,” Golikova said.
Golikova’s comment suggests that some 186,000 deaths may be linked to the coronavirus.
Both Rosstat’s and Golikova’s counts are much higher than the 55,827 deaths during the pandemic reported by the Russian government’s coronavirus task force, including the deaths in December.
The relatively low number of deaths of the Russian Task Force, as reflected in the figures released by the World Health Organization, questions asked by experts at home and abroad while the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Russia became one of the largest in the world.
Critics and Western media have argued that the Russian authorities may have falsified the numbers for political purposes in order to downplay the magnitude of the outbreak – allegations the authorities are seeking.
Russian officials attributed the differences between the numbers reported by the task force and Rosstat to different counting methods. The task force told Interfax news agency in August that their count only includes deaths where COVID-19 was the leading cause.
Officials also said the task force is using data gathered from medical facilities, while Rosstat gets his numbers from the registry office where the process of registering a death is being finalized.