MOSCOW, June 12. /TASS/. A second wave of the novel coronavirus pandemic in Russia is possible if new cases of the virus are imported in the country from abroad, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said on Thursday in an interview with the Rossiya-1 TV channel.

"Statistical data shows that repeat import [of the virus] is possible," he said. Besides, there are climate factors that could affect the epidemiological situation, the minister added.

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 7,477,900 people have been infected worldwide and more than 419,300 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 3,792,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

To date, 502,436 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 261,150 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 6,532 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.