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No spike in influenza, pneumonia cases in Russia - chief sanitary doctor

Although some regions have a usual growth of the spring flu, Anna Popova says

MOSCOW, April 5. /TASS/. Russia’s consumer rights watchdog does not register any jump in pneumonia and flu cases across the country, although some regions have a usual growth of the spring flu, the chief of Russia’s consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, said on Saturday.

"As of today, I would like to tell you that there is no significant hike in numbers of the flu or pneumonia cases, which cannot be explained from the point of view of epidemiology of influenza or pneumonia," she said at a briefing. "There are certain regions where we see a usual spring spike in the flu cases, but those flu cases have been diagnosed."

Popova recalled that each case of community-acquired pneumonia is tested for coronavirus in Russia.

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. To date, more than 1,000,000 people have been infected worldwide and over 53,000 deaths have been reported. That said, over 213,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

So far, a total of 4,731 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 333 patients having recovered from the virus. Moscow handles the bulk of the cases (3,357). The country’s latest data indicates 43 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.

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