MOSCOW, March 15. /TASS/. The number of coronavirus cases throughout Russia has increased from 50 to 63 in the past day. All the four new patients have visited coronavirus-affected countries in the recent two weeks, the coronavirus response headquarters said on Sunday.

"Four new coronavirus cases have been registered in Russia over the past day, including three in the Moscow region, and one in the Tyumen region. The epidemiological probe has revealed that these people visited coronavirus-affected countries in the past two weeks," it said, adding that these people had visited Italy, France, Spain and Switzerland.

According to the headquarters, the new patients’ contacts have been traced. "These people are being placed under medical supervision and undergoing laboratory tests," it added.

Sixty out of the 63 coronavirus patients in Russia are Russian nationals, two are Chinese citizens and one is Italian. The Two Chinese nationals one Russian have recovered, as have the Russian patients from the Diamond Princess cruise ship who were evacuated from Japan.

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 120 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 142,000, with about 5,400 deaths. The WHO has officially described the situation with the novel coronavirus as a pandemic.