Moscow ? Russia’s top health official urged the government Tuesday to introduce a state monopoly on alcohol amid the rising death toll from bootleg vodka in the country.

Russia recently has been swept by large-scale outbreaks of alcohol poisoning in several regions as bootleg vodka and poisonous substitutes have been sold at low prices in the country. Hundreds of Russians have died and several thousand others have been hospitalized in Russia with toxic hepatitis caused by substandard vodka in recent weeks.

Gennady Onishchenko said alcohol consumption has increased considerably in the country in the last 10 years.