Russia’s Federal Statistics Agency Rosstat said on Friday that 49,389 people died of coronavirus in August—more than double the official government figure.

This would bring the agency’s tally of COVID-19 deaths in Russia to over 400,000.

Russia—the fourth worst-hit country in the world in terms of COVID-19 cases—has struggled with the aggressive Delta variant and sluggish vaccination rates.

Rosstat’s figure—released late on Friday—painted a far darker picture of the pandemic’s toll in the country than other figures suggest, with a government tally saying 24,661 Russians died as a result of COVID-19 in August.

Government figures only take into account fatalities where the virus was established as the primary cause of death after an autopsy.

Rosstat, however, publishes figures under a broader definition for deaths linked to the virus.

Russian authorities have been accused of downplaying the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

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