MOSCOW, May 1. /TASS/. The coronavirus infection was the main cause of 17,457 deaths in Russia in January, Russia’s State Statistics Service (Rosstat) reported on Friday.

According to statistics, the novel coronavirus infection was named as the main cause in 17,457 deaths, although in 2,454 cases it is yet to be confirmed. In 6 258 cases the virus was not the primary cause of the death, but impacted it strongly, while in 4,857 cases the confirmed coronavirus infection had no impact on the fatal outcome, Rosstat said.

In February, coronavirus-related deaths stood at 17,120 (including 2,329 unconfirmed cases). The infection expedited the death of 7,664 people while in 5,708 fatalities the virus was confirmed but it did not have a significant impact on the fatal outcome.

Mortality from the coronavirus infection in Russia was from 5.9% to 8% in March, depending on the calculation techniques. According to TASS calculations, based on information published by Rosstat and the federal anti-coronavirus crisis center, the mortality rate was 5.9% for cases when the coronavirus infection was the key cause of death and 8% when in it was an indirect cause.

The federal anti-coronavirus crisis center puts mortality in March at 4.3% (compared to 3.3% in February). The difference is due to the fact that the center’s statistics is based only on cases when COVID-19 was the main cause of death and this was expediently confirmed.

Total mortality figures

According to Rosstat, a total of 249,702 persons diagnosed with the novel coronavirus died between April 2020 and March 2021 in Russia. COVID-19 was confirmed as the main cause of death in 166,858 of them. Another 82,844 COVID-19 patients died of other causes, including 63,186 cases where the novel coronavirus played no role in the fatal outcome.

Therefore, the COVID-19 coronavirus mortality in Russia is estimated at between 3.7% and 5.5%.

According to the federal anti-coronavirus crisis center, a total of 99,209 have died of COVID-19 in Russia since the start of the pandemic.