MAKHACHKALA (Dagestan, Russia), May 18 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The health minister of Dagestan has revealed that 40 frontline healthcare workers have died in the Russian republic since the start of the outbreak, which he called a tragedy.
Officially, just 27 people have died of the virus there, but Dzhamaludin Gadzhiibragimov said 657 patients had died of community-acquired pneumonia in the same period. They had symptoms of Covid-19, but no positive test result.
The interview with an independent blogger comes amid concerns that Russia as a whole has been playing down the true impact of coronavirus, which officials in Moscow have denied.
Earlier this month, a group of doctors wrote to President Vladimir Putin warning that the under-reporting of the epidemic was angering people in Dagestan. They complained that officials were more concerned about looking good to Moscow than working to protect lives.
Civil society groups also warned that people were dying in their villages without making it to hospital, and so going undiagnosed.
The health minister offered few explanations for the scale of the crisis. But he insisted that hospitals in Dagestan now have personal protective equipment and spare beds, and that there were some signs the situation was stabilising. — NNN-AGENCIES
