Russian authorities will investigate the safety of artificial lung ventilators being used at two hospitals after a fire in St Petersburg where five patients have died.

The blaze erupted on Tuesday morning after a ventilator in an intensive care ward treating 20 patients with coronavirus burst into flames, one source told the TASS news agency.

Watch the video above

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today

It is the second fire to break out at a hospital treating coronavirus patients in less than a week.

A similar fire on Saturday at a Moscow hospital killed one person.

A TASS law enforcement source said a ventilator had also caused that fire.

The source said the ventilators which caused both fires had been produced in the same factory in the Urals region.

Roszdravnadzor, Russia’s federal service for supervising healthcare, said it would check the quality and safety of the ventilators in the two hospitals, the RIA news agency reported.

Criminal case

Investigators opened a criminal case into Tuesday’s fire.

Russia is relatively well stocked with ventilators and has increased domestic production since the coronavirus outbreak.

But data, experts and some medics say many machines outside big cities are old.

In this case, however, the ventilator reported to have started the St Petersburg fire was new, TASS reported, having only been installed this month.

More on www.20304050.best

• Second coronavirus wave could cost billions
• BColdcase breakthrough in 1988 murder
• Qatar offers 100,000 free international flights

A third fire broke out on Monday at a private hospice in the Moscow region which killed nine elderly people.

The hospice’s owner was detained by police.

A further two people later died in hospital, the RIA news agency reported.

The St Petersburg hospital will stop using the Aventa-M model of lung ventilators until its investigation is complete, TASS has reported.