MOSCOW (AP) – A new report from Russia’s state statistics agency shows that the country recorded a record number of deaths in July from people infected with coronavirus.
The Rosstat agency report said 50,421 people suffering from COVID-19 died during the month, well above the previous record of 44,435 in December.
However, the agency said in the report that only 38,992 deaths were directly attributed to the disease. In 5,206 more deaths, the virus was estimated to be the leading cause, but more research would be needed; in 1,449 more cases, the virus contributed to the death, but was not the leading cause.
Rosstat said the other 4,844 deaths from infected people were unrelated to the virus.
The report said the total number of virus-related deaths in Russia at the end of July was 215,265, well above the 180,840 mentioned by the national coronavirus working group. Russian officials attribute this to different counting methods, saying the working group only includes deaths where COVID-19 was the leading cause.
Officials also say the task force uses data from medical centers while Rosstat takes its numbers from the civil registry offices, where the death registry ends.
Russia’s vaccine against COVID-19 has lagged behind other nations. By mid-August, only a quarter of the country’s 146 million people had received at least one dose of vaccine, while 20% had been completely vaccinated.
Authorities in many regions have made vaccines mandatory for certain groups of workers, including those working in health care, education, retail, public transportation, and government offices.
___
Follow all AP stories about the coronavirus pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic.