Official: Stats suggest Russia virus toll may be higher

Russia has released statistics that show the country's coronavirus-related toll might be much higher than previously reported.

In a meeting with the government Monday, Russia's deputy prime minister Tatiana Golikova said official statistics showed a 13.8 percent increase in overall deaths between January and November of this year, compared to the same period in 2019.

"I would like to note that over 81 percent of the increase in overall deaths in this period is related to COVID and the consequences of being infected with COVID," she added. Figures published later on Monday by Russia's official statistics agency Rosstat said that the 13.8 percent increase was equivalent to just under 230,000 extra deaths this year.

Coupled with Golikova's comment, that would suggest a COVID-19-related death toll of over 186,000. At the same time, Rosstat's own count of deaths of people diagnosed with COVID-19 – including those where the virus was not the main cause of death and where the virus was suspected, but not confirmed – between April and November put the number at 116,030.

This is much higher than 55,827 deaths in the pandemic that have been reported by the Russian government's coronavirus task force and include deaths that occurred in December. The Rosstat numbers put Russia in the top five of countries with the highest COVID-19 death toll.