MOSCOW, June 10. /TASS/. Coronavirus was the main cause of 2,757 deaths in Moscow in May, while the total death toll amounted to 15,713 in the Russian capital that month, according to the statistics posted on Moscow’s health department website on Wednesday.

"In May 2020, Moscow registered, according to operational reports, 15,713 deaths, which is up by 5,715 compared to 9,998 in May 2019. Should this indicator be calculated based on last three years’ data, the average yearly mortality rate in May stands at 9,914 (9,935 in 2017, 9,808 in 2018, 9,998 in 2019). A total of 2,757 people died of COVID-19 as the main cause of death," the statement says.

The coronavirus infection was documented as the main or concomitant cause of death in 5,260 cases, or in 92% of so-called excessive mortality in May.

"We classed as coronavirus-associated those cases when patients had tested negative (both in life and post mortem), but both the results of autopsies and clinical signs showed that, in spite of the negative test, the main cause of death was most likely the coronavirus. There were 433 such cases in Moscow in May. Thus, we attributed all, even controversial and questionable, cases to COVID-19. Throughout May, not a single death from ordinary pneumonia was attributed to COVID," the department said.

Nevertheless, the coronavirus was said to aggravate other health problems which might result in death. In May, 2,503 people were reported to die of other causes, but had tested positive for coronavirus.

"Following a new method, we can additionally highlight those cases where COVID-19 had a substantial impact on the development of the underlying disease and its fatal complications. The virus became a certain catalyst triggering the underlying disease in 980 cases," the department added.

In general, the coronavirus-related mortality rate in Moscow has ranged between 2% and 3.8% throughout the pandemic. The first indicator defines the cases where coronavirus was the main cause of death and the second indicator defines the cases where coronavirus was either the main or concomitant cause of death.

"Undoubtedly, it is far lower than [statistics posted] on the official sites of cities: 10.7% in New York, 22.7% in London, 15.2% in Stockholm, 21.5% in Madrid," the Moscow health department stressed.

Situation in Moscow

Moscow remains the most affected Russian region, but in recent weeks the situation has been improving. The city has registered 199,785 cases so far, and of those, 1,195 were reported in the past 24 hours. Also, there have been 113,533 recoveries and 3,085 fatalities. The number of single-day recoveries again outnumbered the number of single-day infections, threefold this time, and amounted to 3,796.

The health department pointed out that Moscow has been providing the full amount of medical services, including in hospitals.

"No one has been denied hospitalization, if medically required, and the hospitals have always had vacant beds for suspected coronavirus patients. The beds in intensive care units have never been occupied more than by two thirds. As a result, 65,000 seriously ill citizens have been saved," the statement said.

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 7,210,900 people have been infected worldwide and more than 408,900 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 3,550,900 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

To date, 485,253 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 242,397 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 6,142 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.