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Coronavirus pandemic

Coronavirus was main cause of 68,700 deaths in Russia in October — statistics service

Furthermore, infection by novel coronavirus, which was not the direct cause of death, has triggered 1,141 fatalities

© Petr Kovalev/TASS

MOSCOW, December 4. /TASS/. COVID-19 was the main cause of 68,734 deaths in Russia in October 2021, but more research is needed in 9,912 cases, according to the statistics published by the Russian Federal State Statistics Service on Friday.

According to the Russian statistics service, COVID-19 has already been confirmed as the main cause of 58,822 fatalities.

Furthermore, infection by novel coronavirus, which was not the direct cause of death, has triggered 1,141 fatalities, and 5,018 of the deceased tested positive for COVID-19 but their deaths were not associated with it.

The federal anti-coronavirus crisis center recorded 31,551 COVID-19 deaths in October. The discrepancy in the data is explained by the fact that it takes into account only those cases in which COVID-19 was the main cause of death and it was promptly confirmed.

In October 2020, according to the Russian statistics service, COVID was confirmed as the leading cause of death or was presumed to be such in 15,103 cases.

According to updates, coronavirus was confirmed as the leading cause of 40,172 fatalities in September 2021 (4,998 cases were not conclusively confirmed), it had a significant effect on 979 fatalities, and 3,570 patients tested positive but their deaths were not affected by it.

Mortality rate

The mortality rate was 20.3% higher in Russia in October in comparison with the same period in 2020, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova told reporters on Friday.

"According to official data of Rosstat (Russia’s Federal State Statistics Service - TASS), the mortality rate increased by 20.3% in October 2021 compared to the same period last year, and by 19.1% in January-October 2021 compared to January-October 2020. Of the total increase in the mortality rate this October, more than 100% accounted for deaths from COVID-19, whereas the rate of deaths caused by other diseases dropped by 6.2%," she said.

According to updated information, the death rate was 3.4% higher this November than in October.

"Along with this, the share of COVID-19 deaths continues to grow," the deputy prime minister added.

"Compliance with restrictive measures and vaccination are the most essential efforts in reducing COVID-19 deaths," she recalled.

According to Russia’s statistics service, nearly 1.973 million people died in the country in January-October 2021, which is 311,300 people, or 18.7%, more than in the same period in 2020.

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