Rosstat: Excess deaths in Russia exceed 138,000 people since the start of the pandemic

In total, Russia saw 138,325 excess deaths between the start of the pandemic in March and the month of October, reports the Federal Statistics Service (Rosstat).

Russia’s leading regions in terms of excess deaths are Moscow (3,254 people), the Samara region (2,269 people), the Rostov region (2,240 people), the Chelyabinsk region (2,145 people), and the Altai Krai (1,780 people).

In October 2020, 47,777 people died in Russia — 30.3 percent more than the number who died during that same month last year. According to Rosstat’s data, 15,607 of those deaths were due to the coronavirus or its consequences.

In 90 to 100 percent of cases, these excess deaths in Russia are linked to the coronavirus infection in some way or another, as evidence by reports from the few regions where the data on excess mortality has been analyzed in detail (for example, the Moscow Health Department has been working on this since April). 

Rosstat obtains its data on excess death from local registry offices, where death certificates are issued to relatives of the deceased. While this data is believed to be the most accurate, it’s published 35-40 days after the end of each month, which is a very long delay in the context of an epidemic.