FILE PHOTO: Grave diggers wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) carry a coffin while burying a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) victim in the special purpose section of a graveyard on the outskirts of Saint Petersburg, Russia May 5, 2020. REUTERS/Anton Vaganov
MOSCOW (Reuters) – The Russian city of St. Petersburg, which has been hit hard by the novel coronavirus, recorded 1,552 more deaths in May than in the same month last year, official data shows.
Official data also shows that Russia’s second-largest city only had 171 deaths from the coronavirus last month.
Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, St. Petersburg has recorded 17,069 coronavirus cases and a total of 240 deaths.
Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova and Andrew Osborn; Writing by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Editing by Alex Richardson