Russia’s Health Ministry wants to stop counting coronavirus patients ‘without complaints’

Russia’s Health Ministry is now recommending that officials refrain from counting COVID-19 patients “without complaints,” apparently meaning that infected persons without symptoms will no longer be included in Russia’s coronavirus patient population statistics.

“If the virus is detected without complaints and any accompanying objective information, this condition should be assessed as a carrier of the virus and coded under the heading Z22.8. These cases are not included in morbidity or mortality statistics,” the Health Ministry said in a new memo.

Russia currently has the third-highest number of coronavirus infections in the world, recording 370,680 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic. In recent days, roughly 8,500 people have tested positive for the disease on a daily basis.