The corresponding statement was published on the agency's website.
The Ministry of Health noted that "the Novokuznetsk branch of the regional pathoanatomical bureau accepts almost all deaths from the southern agglomeration of the region," where, according to the ministry, "more than 1,300,000 people live in 12 municipalities."
Given the increase in the number of cases over the past three weeks, "there is an increase in the number of deaths," they stressed.
"The bodies are stored in rooms air conditioned for the storage of corpses," the report said.
The department commented on the published video from the Novokuznetsk morgue.
They said that “the bodies presented in the published video are indeed the bodies of those who died from coronavirus infection and pneumonia;
these cases are included in the official statistics for the region ”.
The Ministry of Health explained that the main reason for the accumulation of bodies of the dead was that the relatives of the deceased who are in isolation or who are sick "are not able to pick up the bodies before the expiration of the quarantine period or until recovery, in addition, the shortage of cadres of pathologists also affects."
The ministry noted that additional surfaces for storing bodies are currently being installed in the morgue, and the authorities are working individually with the relatives of the deceased and providing support in organizing the funeral.
According to the latest data from the Kuzbass headquarters, a total of 14351 cases of coronavirus were detected in the region, 9809 people recovered, 197 patients with COVID-19 died.
Infectious disease specialist, virologist, Doctor of Medical Sciences Nikolai Malyshev, in an interview with the NSN, assessed the situation with the coronavirus.