Russia’s Coronavirus Stats Don’t Reflect Reality – Activist Roman Borisovich

29 April 2020 19:03

UK—based actor and anti—corruption activist Roman Borisovich noted that the COVID—19 infection figures coming from the Russian authorities are far from the truth, considering the global statistics.

UK-based actor and anti-corruption activist Roman Borisovich noted that the COVID-19 infection figures coming from the Russian authorities are far from the truth, considering the global statistics.

“Either Russia is a miraculously healthy country, where only like 2% of tested people happen to be sick with COVID-19 or alternatively – probably the right one – these statistics do not reflect anything,” Borisovich argued during the Zero Corruption Talk – Lessons of Chornobyl in Time of Pandemics conference that was organized by NGOs Anti-Corruption Action Center and Zero Corruption Conference, and broadcast by Hromadske on April 26.

The activist, who himself fell ill with COVID-19 but has now recovered, believes that the vast majority of people who get infected are never tested in the first place, but even if they are, the ratio of those testing positive should be holding across the globe.

“In Russia, if you look at the comparables, if you look at the statistics elsewhere, a number of cases in Russia should be in hundreds of thousands, not tens. Clearly this state is hiding the real statistics,” Borisovich reasoned.

Whilst Moscow may be coping to some extent, there are just no resources in the outlying regions, which results in people being diverted, not tested and purposely misdiagnosed, he stated. Moreover “COVID is barely mentioned on any death certificate.”

All this makes it very difficult to assess the real situation in Russia, so the real extent of the spread can only be extrapolated from neighboring countries or regions, according to Borisovich.

At the same time, he notes that this may be a good moment for the population to get their act together, express their tiredness of corruption, and demand changes.

“[Russians] should require through democratic processes, improvements in the leadership, in the system, without which it is impossible to influence the situation,” the actor suggested.