Moscow recorded nearly 60% more deaths than normal in May as Covid-19 pandemic ravaged Russian capital
Europe’s largest city has been battered by the coronavirus pandemic, but has mercifully avoided the scale of the disaster visited on some comparable Western cities. That’s according to Moscow’s Health Ministry.
Officials have released brand new data showing just how hard Russia’s capital has been hit. “Excess death” figures showed that 58 percent more people died in Moscow in May 2020 compared to the city’s average for the preceding three years.
The city saw 15,713 registered fatalities in May 2020 – 5,799 more than the average mortality during May in the last three years (9,914). Of the extra deaths, 5,260 involved Covid-19 – 92 percent of the overall total.
However, Moscow’s Ministry of Health has attributed only 2,757 of them to coronavirus – the rest (2,503) were determined to have died of a different cause, with Covid-19 cited as a concomitant disease.
“Coronavirus exacerbates other diseases that can lead to death. In May, 2,503 people were identified who died from other causes, but had a positive test for coronavirus,” the ministry’s press release said.
May’s Covid-19 fatality figures (2,757) represent a considerable jump from officially released data on May 31, which showed the city having a monthly death toll of less than 1,900.
According to the Health Ministry, the city also included patients who died with a negative test for Covid-19, if the autopsy determined that the disease was the most likely cause of death.
The ministry also compared Russia’s coronavirus mortality rate (two percent) with different metropolises, showing that Moscow had suffered less than other large cities such as New York (10.7 percent) and London (22.7 percent).
Also on rt.com Russia registers new Covid-19 drug to keep complications caused by virus ‘under control’Russia is not the only country to have experienced soaring figures for excess deaths. According to the latest data from the United Kingdom, the country has seen 62,000 since the beginning of the pandemic, despite an official Covid-19 fatality count of around 40,000.
Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!
