MOSCOW, April 15. /TASS/. Russia is ranked second in the world for the number of tests for the coronavirus, the country’s sanitary watchdog, the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing, said on Wednesday.

"As of 15.04.2020, over 1.5 mln laboratory tests for the novel coronavirus have been carried out, using the samples from people, including those who arrived from the countries affected by the novel coronavirus infection. Russia is ranked second in the world for the total number of tests for the novel coronavirus," the watchdog said.

The watchdog has drawn up a list of Russian regions leading in the number of tests conducted per 100,000 people. The top performers are the Sakhalin Region (6417,68), Moscow (3144,96) and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Region (3112,25). Moscow (395,034) has secured the top spot in the ranking for the absolute number of conducted tests, followed by the Moscow Region (145,574) and St. Petersburg (80,826).

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. According to the latest statistics, over 2,000,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 126,800 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 485,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

To date, a total of 24,490 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 1,986 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 198 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.