Russia acknowledges triple coronavirus deaths it had reported so far

12/28/2020 4:34 PM

• Clarín.com

• World

Updated 12/28/2020 4:42 PM

The Russian Government reported this Monday that the number of deaths from coronavirus in the country represents

triple those that had been officially counted

since the beginning of the pandemic, the same day that a registration system was launched so that people older than 60 years can sign up to be immunized with the Russian Sputnik V vaccine.

Official statistics indicate that if the number of deaths for different reasons in the January-November 2019 and 2020 periods is taken into account, in the last one 229,700 more were verified, of which

186,000 are linked to the coronavirus.

Of these,

25,788 occurred

last

November

, the report published by the Rosstat statistical office released today.

Along the same lines, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova specified that "more than 81% of the increase in mortality in this period is due to Covid-19 or the consequences of the disease."

"Both we and all other countries in the world will have to take a serious look at the overall mortality structure and understand how many new deaths actually appeared from the new disease," he stressed.

The balance of 186,000 deaths

represents triple the 55,265 deaths officially recorded

since the beginning of the pandemic by the Russian Government portal dedicated to the fight against the pandemic, the AFP agency replied.

A man shows the certificate for having received the Sputnik V vaccine. Photo AP.

Until now, the Russian authorities only counted deaths from coronavirus confirmed through an autopsy.

With the new data released this Monday by the Government, Russia becomes

the third country in the world with the highest number of deaths

from the disease, only behind the United States (more than 330,000 deaths) and Brazil (more than 190,000) .

In addition, it already accumulates more than 3 million cases, after the 27,787 new infections in the last 24 hours and 487 deaths, authorities reported.

The vaccination campaign

In parallel, the Moscow municipal government began a registration system for the

immunization of people over 60 years old on

Monday

, a process that will begin tomorrow, after the Russian Ministry of Health gave its approval, last weekend, to the Sputnik V vaccine inoculation to older adults

"This is good, since the elderly are the highest risk group when it comes to experiencing a severe phase of the vaccine," Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobianin was quoted as saying by DPA news agency.

A man receives the Russian Sputnik V vaccine in Russia.

AP Photo.

At the beginning of the month,

Russia began its vaccination campaign against Covid-19

with the vaccine developed by the state-run Gamaleya Center, the first registered worldwide, last August.

Until the weekend, the vaccine was only recommended to people between 18 and 60 years old pending the publication of phase three results.

The first to be vaccinated were people most at risk of contracting the virus, such as health workers and teachers.

Last Saturday, the Russian Ministry of Health, on which the Gamaleya Center depends, approved its use for people over 60 years of age and reported that the vaccine had a high efficacy - up to 90% - in phase 3 trials.

Telam Fountain

AFG

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