Ministry of Health: mortality in the suburbs increased by 25 percent

The number of deaths in the suburbs has grown over the past few weeks by 25 percent. According to RIA Novosti, this was announced by the Minister of Health of the Moscow Region Vladimir Semenov.

“A certain increase in mortality is noted over the past three weeks, about 25 percent. We must look, analyze what happened in past years, as much as this is due to heat and fires,” said Semenov. He also noted that the masks used by residents of the region to protect against smog do not help in everything. “Of course, smoke is harmful to health. Those masks that are used, they do not protect from carbon monoxide, but they help from dispersed particles that are no less harmful,” the minister said.

According to him, the fact that the increase in mortality is associated with a seasonal increase in the number of summer residents is not excluded. The Minister also noted the increase in the number of appeals to the medical institutions of the region.

Earlier, the head of the Moscow Department of Health Andrei Seltsovsky said that the number of deaths in the capital has recently doubled. He said that on ordinary days 360-380 people die a day, and now about 700. After that, the Ministry of Health and Social Development made a statement that noted that the agency critically evaluates information about two-fold increase in mortality in Moscow due to the heat. The press release reported that mortality rate for January-June 2010 in Moscow decreased by 9 percent compared to the same period of 2009. The head of the Ministry of Health and Social Development Tatyana Golikova also added that the data on mortality in Moscow for July will appear only at the end of August, until the department has information about the growth of the number of dead due to the heat.

For a month and a half, an abnormal heat and drought have been in the Moscow region. In June, two temperature records were broken, in July ten, including two absolute ones. In August, the air also warms up to record values. So, last Sunday, the heat in Moscow broke a record of 78 years ago almost four degrees, on Monday the next record was also broken.