While epidemiological data is stable in Russia, authorities announced a record number of day-long deaths on Friday. With 232 deaths from Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, the toll is the highest recorded since May 26, the date of the highest threshold with 174 deaths.
Russia now has 4,374 deaths, a low level compared to those recorded in Western Europe, Brazil or the United States. In addition, the Russian authorities said they expected an increase in mortality, since patients who have been kept alive on respirators for weeks have little prospect of recovery.
According to data from Friday, the epidemic seems to have stabilized, with 8,572 people tested positive in 24 hours, a level stable for ten days. For the past week, the number of "active cases" has been around 224,000, including patients with little or no symptoms. Since the start of the pandemic, 387,623 positive cases have been identified and more than 10 million screenings carried out.
The city of Moscow, the country's main epidemic focus, has released details of the April mortality rate in response to suspicions of statistical manipulation. In the capital, 636 deaths were directly caused by the Covid-19. Only these are taken into account in the official count of the number of deaths due to the epidemic.
For the first time, the Moscow Department of Health has detailed the deaths where the new coronavirus is considered an ancillary factor. Thus, 756 other people tested positive died in Moscow but according to their autopsy, they succumbed to another disease. For 360 of them, Covid-19 "most probably had a major influence on the main disease and its fatal complications".
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Finally, 169 people who were tested negative for the new coronavirus, during their lifetime and after their death, are nevertheless suspected of having died from Covid-19. A total of 1,561 people died as a result of the new coronavirus in Moscow.
Russia has been accused by media and critics of disguising its mortality statistics. The Russian authorities have rejected these accusations, claiming that they have always counted only deaths whose primary cause is the coronavirus, unlike other countries, notably European, which account for almost all the deaths of people tested positive.
The Russian government admits to expect in May a "significant" increase in its general mortality. Nevertheless, he judges that Russia will experience a lower mortality linked to Covid-19 than in Western Europe, having been struck later by the epidemic. He believes he reorganized his health system in time, instituting a massive screening policy.
