MOSCOW, Russia (AFP)— Moscow health officials said today that the capital recorded its highest fatality count in a decade last month, with more than one-third of the deaths due to the coronavirus.

The city’s health department said a total of 15,713 people died in May including 5,260 people who fell victim to the virus.

It was the largest number of fatalities since the summer of 2010 when Moscow was battered by an unprecedented heatwave and stifling smog.

“COVID-19 was recorded as the main or associated cause of death in 5,260 cases,” the health department said in a statement, specifying that the virus was the primary cause of more than half of those deaths.

Officials said last month’s death count had increased by 5,715 compared to May 2019, and was a 57 percent year-on-year increase compared to the average fatality rate for last month.

Authorities had previously said that they expected a significant spike in mortality.

All patients received treatment regardless of their diseases, the health department said, adding that “as a result, 65,000 gravely ill residents were saved”.

Russia has recorded a total of 493,657 infections, the third-highest number of cases in the world after the United States and Brazil.

With a total of 6,358 fatalities, Russia’s mortality rate is far lower compared to other countries with large outbreaks.

Critics have cast doubt on the low official mortality rate and accused authorities of under-reporting to play down the scale of the crisis.

Russia says its lower virus death figures are partly down to mass testing which has identified many coronavirus cases with mild or no symptoms.

The government insists that it records causes of death meticulously based on the results of autopsies and according to international standards set out by the World Health Organisation.

Moscow, the epicentre of the pandemic in Russia with around half of the county’s total cases, lifted quarantine restrictions on Tuesday, sending residents onto the streets and clogging major roads.