Rospotrebnadzor has found discrepancies in COVID-19 statistics in the Sverdlovsk region. Authorities say there are "no distortions"

The head of the Rospotrebnadzor Department of the Sverdlovsk Region, Dmitry Kozlovskikh, reported that the region has different information about the number of positive tests for coronavirus and the number of emergency notifications submitted for COVID-19. He reported this in a letter to Governor Yevgeny Kuyvashev, a copy of which was published by the Yekaterinburgernaya Telegram channel.

The letter states that from June 8 to 14, coronavirus was laboratory-confirmed in 2,659 cases in the region, but doctors filed 1,784 emergency notifications. During the week from June 15 to 21, tests were positive for COVID-19 in 3,036 cases, but there were almost half as many notifications — 1,546.

“The share of unsubmitted emergency notifications for medical and preventive institutions in the city of Yekaterinburg was 18.7%,” the letter says.

In a statement, Kozlovskikh noted that the current situation threatens the lives and health of citizens and “contributes to the spread of the new coronavirus infection among the population of the Sverdlovsk region.”

Vice Governor of the region Pavel Krekov stated that Rospotrebnadzor and medical services have already "worked through" this letter and received answers to all questions that have arisen. "The main indicator of the correctness of statistics is the number of hospitalizations," Krekov emphasized. According to him, "there are no distortions of statistical data in our institutions."

The deputy governor admitted that discrepancies could arise due to duplication of information, when a patient with coronavirus is registered by a local doctor, an ambulance, and a hospital. Krekov noted that from July 6, Yekaterinburg hospitals will completely switch to a new reporting system, which will avoid duplication.

The chief sanitary doctor of the region Dmitry Kozlovskikh, in turn, reported that the published letter is "working correspondence between departments on data verification." He noted that Rospotrebnadzor has identified discrepancies in statistics several times. Now, according to him, these data have been brought into line.