Russia said on Monday that the number of coronavirus deaths was more than three times higher than previously reported, making it the country’s third-highest death toll.
For months, Russian President Vladimir Putin has boasted of low mortality from the virus, saying earlier this month that he has done a better job of managing the pandemic than Western countries.
But since the beginning of the pandemic, some Russian experts have said that the government is reducing the country’s focus.
On Monday, Russian officials acknowledged that it was true. The statistical agency Rosstat said that the number of deaths from all causes recorded between January and November increased by 229,700 compared to the previous year.
“More than 81% of this increase in mortality during this period is due to Covid,” said Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova, meaning that more than 186,000 Russians died from Covid-19.
Russian health officials have registered more than 3 million infections since the beginning of the pandemic, making it the fourth largest number of cases in the country.
But they reported only 55,265 deaths – a much lower fatality rate than in other severely affected countries.
Russia has been criticized for listing Covid’s deaths only if an autopsy confirms the virus was the main cause.
Covid-19 cases in Russia
Alexei Raksha, a demographer who left Rosstat in July, told AFP last week that the Russian Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Consumer Health are falsifying the coronavirus number.
Rosstat’s new figures mean that Russia now has the third highest death toll in the world in Covid-19 behind the US at 333,140 and Brazil at 191,139, according to an AFP number.
Russian authorities oppose the re-imposition of a blockade at the national level. The Kremling hopes to support the troubled economy even if the country is hit by a second wave of infections.
The Russian government predicts that the economy will decline by 3.9% this year, while its central bank expects an even deeper decline.
During his end-of-year press conference earlier this month, Putin rejected the idea of imposing the kind of blockade that many European countries have introduced for the Christmas holidays.
“If we comply with the rules and requirements of health regulators, then we do not need blockages,” he said.
While strict measures have been imposed in some large cities, authorities in many regions have limited restrictions on wearing masks in public spaces and reducing mass gatherings.
But many Russians have violated the rules of social distancing, and in recent weeks the country’s outbreak has overwhelmed poorly funded hospitals in the regions.
Instead, Russia has strengthened its hopes of eliminating the outbreak by vaccinating people with Sputnik V, named after the Soviet-era satellite.
The country launched a mass vaccination program earlier this month, first inoculating 18-60-year-old workers at high risk without chronic disease.
Over the weekend, those over 60 received the green light to receive the blow.
On Monday, developer Sputnik V, the state-owned Gamaleya research center, said about 700,000 doses had been released for domestic use so far.
However, Russia has not said how many people it has vaccinated so far, and according to recent polls by state-owned polling company VCIOM and the Levada polling agency, only 38 percent of Russians plan to get shot.