MOSCOW — Moscow officials have updated the number of coronavirus-linked deaths in the Russian capital last month, reporting a total of 5,260 in May.

Moscow's Health Department said in a statement on Wednesday that 2,757 deaths were caused by COVID-19, including 433 cases in which a test didn't confirm the presence of the virus. The department said 2,503 other people who tested positive for the virus died from other causes.

Russian officials have started giving detailed reports on virus-related deaths in an effort to dispel doubts about the country’s low pandemic death toll and to counter allegations numbers were manipulated for political reasons.

Russia currently has the third-highest number of 493,000 confirmed virus cases and only 6,358 officially reported deaths. According to experts, only deaths directly caused by COVID-19 and confirmed by a positive test make the official count.

Moscow's Health Department last month provided an updated count of all COVID-related deaths, reporting a total of 1,561 deaths linked to the virus in April. In April and May combined, Moscow has registered 6,821 virus-related deaths.

Shortly after, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova gave a similar breakdown for April deaths in all of Russia, bringing the nation’s total to 2,713, a number 60% higher than previously reported.