Many sick, few dead: Russian coronavirus statistics alerted WHO

The organization points out that the difference between the number of patients with coronavirus and the low mortality rate from it in Russia looks "unusual". The country's authorities have repeatedly denied manipulation of statistics on COVID-19, writes RBC.

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Michael Ryan, director of the WHO health emergency program, said at a briefing in Geneva that the statistics on mortality from COVID-19 observed in Russia are “difficult to understand.”

“It is certainly unusual that the number of deaths relative to the number of confirmed cases is very low,” he told a WHO briefing.

Ryan noted that the low mortality from coronavirus can be explained by the large coverage of testing, but the Russian authorities should explain what methodology they use to calculate deaths. According to Ryan, there is a standard for official confirmation of death, which WHO has provided to each member state of the organization, writes Air force.

Ryan commented on data from Johns Hopkins University, according to which Russia is in the top three in terms of the number of cases, and in the top ten in terms of the number of deaths. Currently, 493 thousand infected are registered in Russia, only in the USA (almost 2 million people) and Brazil (739,5 thousand) more. However, in terms of the number of deaths (6350 dead), Russia ranks 13th in the world. The top five are the United States (112 thousand), Great Britain (41 thousand), Brazil (38,4 thousand), Italy (34 thousand) and France (29,2).

At the end of May, Moscow authorities reported that they had recounted mortality in accordance with WHO recommendations. Then the number of deaths due to coronavirus in Moscow in April was adjusted from 639 to 1561 people.

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On June 10, the Moscow Department of Health announced that in May 5 cases involving COVID-260 were recorded in the city. At the same time, 19 people died from coronavirus as the main cause, and another 2757 people died for other reasons, but they had a positive test for COVID-2503, the department said.

“No,” Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked whether the Kremlin considers Russia’s coronavirus mortality rates strange.

Earlier in an interview with CNN, Peskov said that the low mortality from COVID-19 was not due to manipulation of statistics, as is suspected in the West, but to the high efficiency of the Russian healthcare system.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said that Russian authorities had never manipulated data on coronavirus. She stated that the mortality rate from infection in the country is seven times lower than the global one. Golikova attributed this to the high detectability of the infected.

According to Ryan, the pandemic is intensifying in many regions, countries "should be more ambitious than just straightening the curve." He mentioned Africa as an example, noting that there has been a recent increase in incidence, although the death rate in most countries of the African continent is 1% or less, which is most likely due to the younger population, unlike the rest of the world.

Ryan also said that the ever-increasing number of cases in Latin America is a “deep concern” for the World Health Organization. He emphasized that here doctors have great difficulties and there is no evidence that the onset of winter in the Southern Hemisphere will reduce or, conversely, reduce the incidence rate.

At the end of May, Michael Ryan said that the incidence of coronavirus could "jump" at any moment, and already in this wave a second peak of the disease is likely.

“I think it depends on what part of the world you are in. Now we are not in the second, but exactly in the first wave around the world, if you look at data from South America, Africa, Asia, and other countries. We are still in the phase when the disease rises, ”he said.

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The specialist explained that the “second wave” in the classical sense refers to a situation in which the number of patients in the first wave is reduced to a relatively low level, and after a few months the disease will manifest itself again.

According to the World Health Organization, in the world the number of people infected with coronavirus infection exceeded 7,1 million people, more than 408 thousand died. According to current data from Johns Hopkins University, the number of infected in the world exceeded 7,3 million, 413 thousand died.

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