MOSCOW, March 12. /TASS/. Six new coronavirus cases have been registered in Russia in the past day, a spokesman for the coronavirus response headquarters said on Thursday.
"In the past 24 hours, six coronavirus infection cases were registered in Russia, including four in Moscow, one in Kaliningrad, and one in the Krasnodar territory," the spokesman said, adding that all the six infected persons had visited countries most seriously hit by the novel coronavirus in the recent weeks.
"As of today, 34 coronavirus infection cases have been registered in Russia. Thirty-one patients are Russian nationals returning from foreign countries, two patients are Chinese citizens, and one is Italian national," the spokesman said, adding that some of the patients had already recovered and been discharged from hospital. They are the two Chinese nationals, one Russian who visited Italy, and three Russian citizens evacuated from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan.
According to the spokesman, the new cases were found after examining those who were on the same flights with those infected.
As of March 12, there are 19 coronavirus cases in Moscow.
A pneumonia outbreak caused by the COVID-19 virus (previously known as 2019-nCoV) was reported in China’s city of Wuhan, a large trade and industrial center with a population of 12 million, in late December 2019. Cases of the new coronavirus have also been reported from more than 100 countries and territories, including Russia. Outside China, the worst affected countries are Italy, South Korea and Iran.
The World Health Organization says that the novel coronavirus cases across the globe have exceeded 118,000, with about 4,300 deaths. The WHO has officially described the situation with the novel coronavirus as a pandemic.