Why is Russia’s coronavirus death rate so low?

Even as its infections have accelerated, Russia remains the only one of the 10 most-affected nations with a death rate below 1 per cent

But data from four regions suggest deaths may be far higher when cases are counted in which virus patients died of other conditions such as liver failure

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A woman walks past Christ the Saviour cathedral in central Moscow. Photo: AFP

Published: 10:09pm, 14 May 2020Updated: 10:50pm, 14 May 2020

As Russia’s surging coronavirus infections have turned it into a global epidemic hotspot second only to the US, one thing puzzles health experts: Why is it reporting so few deaths?

Russian officials say 2,305 people have died so far from Covid-19 out of 252,245 confirmed cases since the epidemic erupted. Russia’s total cases on Tuesday overtook those of Spain, which has reported close to 27,000 deaths, after passing the UK and Italy, which have more than 12 times the Russian level of fatalities.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it’s in talks with Russia about the country’s statistics for coronavirus deaths, which at 0.9 per cent is far below the global average and the lowest among nations with the highest numbers of infections.

“We as the WHO are closely discussing this with the Russian authorities,” Melita Vujnovic, the organisation’s chief representative in Russia, said in a phone interview last week.

“They are looking at the entire mortality to see if something has been missed.” The Health Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

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The Geneva-based agency of the United Nations issued guidelines in mid-April asking countries to register fatalities linked to Covid-19 “where the disease caused, or is assumed to have caused, or contributed to death”.