Moscow Says Coronavirus-Related Death Rate Is Twice Direct Toll

(Bloomberg) -- Moscow’s health department said the death toll linked to Covid-19 in April was more than twice initial reports once the count was broadened to include cases related to the coronavirus.

While 636 deaths were attributed directly to the pandemic, an additional 756 people in the Russian capital died of other causes while testing positive for the virus, according to a health department statement published Thursday. Using the new methodology, the death rate from the virus rose to 2.8% from 1.4%, it said.

“The resulting excess mortality in April, especially when compared with figures for other cities and countries, is not significant,” according to the statement, which said Moscow fared much better than comparable cities like New York and London.

The new figures were released after the Russian government faced questions about the much lower number of deaths attributed to the pandemic in comparison with other nations that also reported high total infections. The World Health Organization has said it held discussions with Russia on how officials calculate the mortality rate, which at 1.1% is far below the global average.

Counting Cases

The Moscow Health Department said it was using the WHO’s latest recommendations. The Geneva-based agency of the United Nations issued guidelines in mid-April asking countries to register fatalities linked to Covid-19 “where the disease caused, or is assumed to have caused, or contributed to death.”

Moscow had 1,753 more deaths in April than the average of the preceding three years, an increase of 17%, the Health Department said.

As well as directly leading to fatalities, the coronavirus provokes “an acceleration” in deaths by other causes such as stroke and heart attack, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in an interview on state TV. “We’re not hiding anything” in the figures, he said.

The capital of 12.7 million people accounts for nearly half of Russia’s 379,051 Covid-19 cases, the third-largest number in the world. President Vladimir Putin this week said the country had passed the peak of the epidemic.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.