Turning against the global trend, mortality from Covid-19 continues to increase in Russia. Thursday, September 30, for the third day in a row, Moscow announced the highest number of daily deaths since the start of the pandemic, with 867 deaths listed, 10 more than the day before.
These figures provided by the health agency Rospotrebnadzor, and used by the World Health Organization for its global comparisons, are questionable. The count is made according to a minimalist calculation method and it is systematically revised upwards, a posteriori, by another official source, the statistical agency Rosstat.
For the month of July, for example, Rospotrebnadzor’s accounts were thus established at 23,349 deaths. Those of Rosstat, published later, evoked for their part 50,421 deaths. And the reality is undoubtedly still beyond: for this month of July, the excess mortality observed compared to July 2019 reached 64,000 people.
Prevalence of the Delta variant which reaches 97%
Since the start of the pandemic, 600,000 additional deaths have occurred in Russia in an unexplained manner, while the official count attributes 203,000 deaths to Covid-19.
The fact remains that the recent trend is clear, with a serious increase and admitted by the authorities. The number of new daily SARS-CoV-2 cases stood at 23,888 on Thursday, with a prevalence of the Delta variant reaching 97%.
Part of it could be a statistical catch-up: From mid-July until the legislative elections of September 19, the numbers had remained surprisingly smooth, with several days in a row posting 799 daily deaths.
The fourth Russian wave has thus swept in an almost total silence of politicians and the media and a relative indifference of the population. The theme of the pandemic and its handling by the authorities was absent from the legislative campaign, except for the Communist Party, which insisted on its refusal of compulsory vaccination.
“A serious cause for concern”
During one of his rare electoral interventions at the end of August, Vladimir Putin had once again considered that Russia had “Better passed the test of the pandemic than many of the developed countries in the world”.
We had to reach in the last few days to see the Covid-19 and its health consequences make a comeback in the official discourse. On Wednesday October 29, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov spoke of “Sad death records” and “A serious cause for concern”.
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