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Coronavirus pandemic

Kremlin spokesman emphasizes accuracy of Russia’s coronavirus death data

The cause of death is identified by autopsy, Dmitry Peskov noted

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov Sergei Bobylev/TASS

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov

© Sergei Bobylev/TASS

NEW YORK, May 21. /TASS/. Russia’s coronavirus death data is accurate, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told CNBC.

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Record number of new coronavirus cases reported globally in past 24 hours

According to an article on the CNBC website, Peskov "hit back at claims that the Russian data was inaccurate and insisted to CNBC that Russia is not misreporting virus fatalities."

"We conceal nothing," CNBC cited the Russian presidential spokesman as saying. "(The) cause of death is identified by autopsy. It is autopsy that helps us count precisely, and on this basis (a) diversification of death causes happens. That is the difference between Russia and many Western countries, where they do not do postmortem examinations," Peskov emphasized.

Coronavirus pandemic

In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia. On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.

According to the latest statistics, over 4,990,400 people have been infected worldwide and more than 324,900 deaths have been reported.

To date, a total of 308,705 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 85,392 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 2,927 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.

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