MOSCOW, March 13. /TASS/. The total amount of coronavirus cases in Russia has risen from 34 to 45 in the past 24 hours, Russia’s task force for combating and preventing the spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) told reporters on Friday.

"Currently, there are 45 cases of the coronavirus infection in the Russian Federation: among the infected are 42 Russian citizens, two Chinese citizens and one Italian citizen," the task force stated.

Eleven COVID-19 patients have been identified in Russia over the past day, the officials informed. All of them visited Italy, France and Austria lately.

"Over the past 24 hours eleven new coronavirus cases have been registered in Russia: five in Moscow, one in the Moscow Region, three in St. Petersburg, one in the Leningrad Region and one in the Perm Region. According to the inquiries made, all of them had visited coronavirus-affected countries (Italy, France and Austria) over the past two weeks. One newly-sick contracted the virus from the previously diagnosed patients," the task force said.

On Friday, St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov told reporters that one out of five infected persons in the city is a 10-year-old child. "According to the federal task force, there are five infected people [in St. Petersburg]. Their condition is satisfactory. One of them is a 10-year-old child. All of them arrived from other states, sought medical help, and now they are being treated at the Botkin Hospital," he said.

In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about an outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, central China. On March 11, WHO officially characterized the situation with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) as a pandemic. The disease has spread to over 110 countries. According to official data, over 134,000 people have been infected with the virus globally, and over 5,000 have died.