MOSCOW, May 8. /TASS/. Another 51 coronavirus patients have died in Moscow, bringing the death toll to 956, the coronavirus monitoring center said in a statement on Thursday.

"Another 51 patients have died in Moscow, all of them were diagnosed with pneumonia and tested positive for the coronavirus," the statement reads.

The center pointed out that those who had symptoms of respiratory illness needed to call a doctor instead of trying to cure themselves.

Coronavirus pandemic

In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 3,800,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 265,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 1,300,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

To date, a total of 177,160 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 23,803 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 1,625 fatalities nationwide. Moscow accounts for the majority of cases (92,676). Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.