MOSCOW – After months of questions about the true scale of the coronavirus epidemic in Russia and the effectiveness of the Russian-developed vaccine, the state statistics agency in Moscow has released new figures showing that the death toll in Covid-19 is more than three times higher than officially reported.
Since the onset of the epidemic earlier this year, the health crisis has engulfed and President Vladimir V. Critics say political calculations have been distorted, critics say, as Putin and Kremlin-controlled media outlets have repeatedly praised Russia’s successes in fighting the virus and keeping it vaccinated. Mortality rates are relatively low.
Russia has more than one million reported cases of infection, making it the world’s fourth-worst-affected country, but only 55.88. People have died, less than the other seven countries. The government agency’s demographic writer, who questioned the official casualty figures, downplayed them over the summer, calling them too low.
New data released Monday by the state statistics agency, Rosestat, however, indicated that the demographic was true and that the actual number of casualties was much higher than previously reported. The agency reported that the number of deaths between January and November was 229,732 higher than the same period last year, with a senior official blaming the coronavirus heavily.
Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova, who is leading Russia’s efforts to fight the epidemic, told the government in a briefing on Monday that more than 811 percent of deaths in 2020 were “due to covid,” meaning more deaths were caused by the virus. There have been more than 186,000 Russians so far this year.
This is still far less than the 33 deaths caused by Covid-19 in the United States, compared to more than 1,000 deaths, but it means that Russia has suffered more casualties from the epidemic than European countries such as Italy, France and Britain, which have a poor record on a regular basis. Has been. Cited by the Russian state media as evidence of Russia’s relative victory. By noon on Tuesday, the webpage featuring RoseStat’s new data had been accessed.
The gap between the official mortality rate and the actual one is largely explained by the practice by Russia of recording deaths as coronavirus related while cases Topsy has confirmed coronavirus as the main cause. Critics say this has allowed officials to massage the numbers.
Instead of consoling the population, quarreling over statistics has only deepened the deep distrust of many Russians towards their government, even among those who voted for Mr Putin and in his reassuring statements.
Russia became the first country to register a coronavirus vaccine in August, praised by Putin as evidence of his country’s excellent science, and launched a nationwide inoculation campaign in early December. But a recent poll found that despite assurances from Mr Putin, who received about 77 per cent of the vote in last year’s presidential election, only 38 per cent of Russians want to be vaccinated.
Russia has a long history of scientific achievement beating the world. But the reliability of his vaccine, named after the world’s first satellite, the Soviet-era Sputnik, has been denied by the fact that Mr Putin announced it was ready for use before a general clinical trial was completed.
The skepticism of what officials say is so widespread that there was even a slight shock or surprise earlier this month when the investigative news outlet Proct said Mr Putin had not spent more than a year working against reports on state television. A government residence near Moscow, but resting for a while at his vacation home on the warm shores of the Black Sea.
The images, held by Mr Putin in a video conference with scattered office fee officials, are the main part of a news bulletin on state television, which conveyed the message that the president is safe but still working hard near Moscow.
Proct reported that Mr Putin had in fact divided his time between a residence near Moscow and a villa in the Black Sea resort city of Sochi, instead creating two office fees for video linkups to disguise. The Kremlin has denied the allegations.
