MOSCOW, January 28. /TASS/. Over half of Russians (55%) believe that the coronavirus outbreak is a real threat and some 16% others have refused to visit the countries where pneumonia was detected, a survey carried out by Zdorovie Mail.ru especially for TASS showed.

The opinion poll was conducted on January 24-27, 2020 among 2,455 Russian users of the health project.

"The poll showed that 55% of respondents believe that coronavirus is a real threat, while others are sure that all fears are exaggerated. Meanwhile, 16% refused to go on trips to the regions where the cases of this disease were detected," the survey said.

Some 50% of those interviewed admitted that they were alarmed by the news about coronavirus, while 44% said they were relatively calm or indifferent about the reports. "Nearly half - 45% - said they have not changed their habits," the experts noted.

Among those who changed their habits, some 40% avoid places of mass gathering, 30% wash their hands more often, 16% take vitamins, 12.7% try not to touch handles in the metro, and 7.5% buy medical masks.

According to Mail.ru search engine, coronavirus was at the top of search results.

On December 31, 2019, Chinese authorities informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about an outbreak of an unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, a large trade and industrial center in central China populated by 11 million people. On January 7, 2020, Chinese experts identified the infecting agent as coronavirus 2019-nCoV.

The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in China has exceeded 2,800 and 81 people have died. The new strain of coronavirus has already been identified in almost all Chinese provinces including Beijing and Shanghai as well as in other countries such as Australia, Malaysia, Nepal, France, Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, Singapore, the United States and Japan. The World Health Organization recognized the pneumonia outbreak in China as a national emergency but stopped short of declaring it an international one.