Moscow revises its coronavirus death toll for April to 1,561 – more than DOUBLE the 636 fatalities they originally claimed
by Emer Scully For Mailonline- Moscow changed its method of counting coronavirus deaths after criticism
- An initial 636 deaths for April has now been more than doubled to 1,561
- Moscow's Health Department counting even 'controversial, questionable cases'
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
Moscow has more than doubled it's coronavirus death toll for April from 636 to 1,561 by including more 'controversial' cases.
The city was criticised for its original figures and has since included 756 people who had coronavirus but died of other causes and 169 people suspected of having the virus but who tested negative.
Late last night Moscow's Health Department said the new counting method would take into account even 'controversial, questionable cases'.
Under the revised count, the city's death rate from the virus was between 1.4 per cent and 2.8 per cent.
That would still make the Russian capital's coronavirus death rate much lower than death rates reported in cities such as New York and London, it said.
The new counting method has not yet been used to revise the official death toll for Moscow or Russia.
Moscow city authorities, the Kremlin and government officials have previously defended the integrity of Russian coronavirus data, saying statistics are rigorously based on post-mortems and are more accurate than in other countries.
Russia has reported the third highest number of coronavirus cases in the world after the United States and Brazil.
The tally on Friday rose to 387,623 after officials reported 8,572 new infections and 232 deaths, a record daily rise. The official overall death toll is 4,374.
Data published this month showed the total number of deaths registered in the capital rose sharply in April compared with the same month last year.
It comes after one of Vladimir Putin's most trusted aides Dmitry Peskov was confirmed as suffering from coronavirus.
Peskov is the Russian leader's long time spokesman and also deputy head of the presidential administration.
He is believed to have been hospitalised in the elite Kremlin clinic known as Moscow Central Clinical Hospital.
According to journalists, Peskov, 52, was last seen with Putin on 30 April. 'I got sick. I'm getting treatment,' he said according to RIA Novosti.
He told TASS he had not been in personal touch with Putin for one month.
Peskov himself said that major efforts had been taken to ensure Putin did not become infected.
Peskov's wife Tatiana Navka , 45, former Olympic champion figure skater and twice World Champion is also infected and was also in hospital.
'He brought it from work,' she said.
The former diplomat's infections follows that of Russian prime minister Mikhail Mishustin who was also hospitalised.
A Kremlin spokesman confirmed Peskov was in the hospital. Russian culture minister Olga Lyubimova and construction minister the head of the Ministry of Construction Vladimir Yakushev are also infected.
Earlier this month Putin was seen with his close ally Igor Sechin with neither wearing protective masks. Sechin is now head of energy giant Rosneft.
There have been reports the Kremlin's daily figures may be underestimating fatalities by as much as 70 per cent.
The number of new cases per-day rose dramatically in the second half of April. Putin has attributed this steep rise to an increase in testing.
A quarter of a million people are under medical surveillance due to being suspected of suffering from coronavirus.
But the statistics may mask an even more serious situation in Russia.
An analysis by The Financial Times showed 2,073 more deaths in April in Moscow and St Petersburg compared to the average figure for the past five years.
Official Russian figures show 629 Covid-19 deaths for the same month, meaning an excess of 1,444 deaths compared with normal mortality levels.
'If added to the reported national figure of 2,009 Covid deaths as of Monday morning, this would mean a 72 per cent increase in Russia's national death toll,' stated the newspaper.
The same figures from civil registry offices show that in April in Moscow there were 1,980 additional deaths in Moscow compared the an average over ten years.
Until now, Russian experts have suggested they are less seriously hit than many Western countries.
But it also seems clear Russia was not listing Covid-19 as a cause when there are complicating factors in deaths such as cancer or heart trouble.
The revealing excess death statistics from the Moscow civil registry office suggest that either the real number of Covid-19 deaths are higher than have been officially acknowledged, or there has been a rise in non-coronavirus fatalities at a time when hospitals are under pressure from the pandemic - or a combination of both factors.
Russian deputy premier Tatyana Golikova has claimed that infections are growing significantly more slowly in Russia than in Western countries.
On Monday, May 11, Putin told millions of Russians to return to work despite recording a record number of infections and deaths from coronavirus in the 24 hours running up to his public announcement.
He spoke about the deadly pandemic in a televised address from the Kremlin and announced measures to support the Russian economy.
'Starting from tomorrow, May 12, the national period of non-working days will be over for all sectors of the economy,' Putin said, adding that Russia's regions will be able to keep in place any necessary anti-virus measures.
The Russian premier went on to criticise businesses for the doubling of unemployment rates since the start of the pandemic, adding they should have held on to their employees during the crisis.
Putin stressed that the rapidly increasing number of coronavirus cases was largely down to the high rates of testing in the country. He said that Russia began the pandemic with 2,500 tests per day, which has now risen to 170,000. Officials plan for this number to be doubled this month.
During the address, Putin asked regional government heads to take responsibility for enforcing social distancing measures and for delivering the money promised by the government to those in need.
However, the low death toll and Russia's methods of logging fatalities were questioned by the opposition, while doctors said initial test kits often returned false negative results.
With the majority of cases in and around Moscow, some regions have begun to relax restrictions which have seriously affected the economy.
Sparcely-populated Yakutia, Magadan and Yamal lifted restrictions on being outside and allowed the reopening of some businesses, requiring people to self-distance.
In Moscow, the mayor announced some industries and construction sites can begin work, but masks and gloves will be mandatory.
More than half of all cases and deaths are in Moscow, the epicentre of Russia's outbreak.