Moscow: Russia’s Federal State Statistics Service Rossta announced on Thursday that more than 71,000 people have died from the coronavirus in the country, setting up a new record since the pandemic began.
According to the State Statistics Agency, a total of 87,527 people died of COVID-19 in November, adding that the virus was not considered the cause of death in 5,924 of these cases, and the virus was identified as the cause of death in 71,187.
Russian officials have been accused of downplaying the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to Rosstat’s tally, the death toll is much higher than the official task force of the government tracking the pandemic, with a total death toll of COVID-19 of 307,948.
Rosstat publishes numbers according to a broader definition of virus-related deaths than the Task Force.
In the last 11 months, Russia’s natural population decline was 945,000, but during the same period last year, it exceeded 574,000, indicating a significant increase in deaths.
Russia is Europe’s most brutal hit by a pandemic, and authorities struggle to counter widespread anti-vaccine sentiment.
Russia has recorded only 45% of the population as fully vaccinated, despite pleas from President Vladimir Putin and the wide availability of the home-grown Sputnik V jab.
Meanwhile, Russia overtook Brazil to have the world’s second-highest death toll from the COVID-19 pandemic, behind the United States.
According to the reports, the death toll in the United States is as high as 825,663, but the population is more than double that of Russia.
