Officials said the blaze on the sixth floor of the Saint George hospital appeared to have started when one of the ventilators in its intensive care unit short-circuited.
Health authorities said they would check the hospital’s ventilators and those at a Moscow clinic where a fire killed a woman last week.
Officials launched a probe into ventilators used at some Russian medical facilities on Tuesday after five coronavirus patients, including three attached to the breathing machines, died in a fire at a Saint Petersburg hospital.
“The staff did everything they could… We feel guilty towards their relatives,”
Russia reported 10,899 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, continuing a steady increase of new infections that has seen the country become a global virus hotspot.
With a total of 232,243 infections, Russia now has the second-highest number of infections in the world after the United States, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
