Russia records 22.8% more deaths in September year-on-year: stats agency

Medical specialists wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) are seen in the corridor of a temporary hospital set up in the automobile shopping centre, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Moscow, Russia, in this picture released October 30, 2020. Alexander Avilov/Moscow News Agency/Handout via REUTERS

Russia recorded 170,717 deaths in September, up 22.8% on the same month last year, data from state statistics service Rosstat showed on Friday.

Of these cases, Russia officially recorded 9,798 deaths linked to suspected or confirmed cases of COVID-19. Of these, the coronavirus had been the main cause of death in 5,199 cases, Rosstat said.

Russia reported a record high of 20,582 new coronavirus cases on Friday, including 6,253 infections in Moscow, bringing the national tally to 1,733,440.

(Reporting by Andrey Ostroukh and Gleb Stolyarov; Editing by David Goodman)