Daghestan’s top health official has said more than 40 doctors have died from either the coronavirus or "community-acquired pneumonia" as many raise questions about the accuracy of Russia’s reported cases and deaths from COVID-19.
Daghestan Health Minister Dzhamaludin Gadzhiibragimov, in an interview with a local blogger on May 16, also said that more than 13,000 people in the impoverished North Caucasus republic are currently suffering from COVID-19 or pneumonia.
The republic’s coronavirus center had reported just 3,280 cases of COVID-19 as of May 16 and only 29 deaths. Gadzhiibragimov said that more than 657 people have died of “community-acquired pneumonia.”
However, a severe case of COVID-19 can lead to pneumonia, opening the possibility for a case of the coronavirus to be diagnosed as pneumonia.
Russia has been accused of lowering its COVID-19 mortality rates by ascribing deaths to pneumonia.
The country has more than 272,000 registered cases of COVID-19 but only 2,537 deaths, which is one of the lowest death rates.
In the United States, COVID-19 is listed as the cause of death for anyone who perishes while infected with the disease.