Russia sets another monthly record for virus-linked death

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV
Associated Press

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia’s state statistics agency says that more than 87,500 people with COVID-19 died in Russia in November, the highest montly tally since the start of the pandemic. Thursday’s report by Rosstat brought the overall number of virus-linked deaths between April 2020 and October 2021 to over 625,000 — more than twice the widely-cited toll reported by Russia’s state coronavirus task force to date. Rosstat uses broader criteria in its tallying system compared to the task force. Russia in recent months has faced a tide of contagion with record numbers of infections and deaths. The situation has improved over the past few weeks, but the authorities are now bracing up for a new wave of infection caused by the omicron variant.