NOVO-OGARYOVO, April 17. /TASS/. Russia’s Irkutsk, Vladimir, Komi, Udmurt and Trans-Baikal regions need to step up coronavirus response efforts, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said during a videoconference on the construction and repurposing of medical facilities on Friday.

"We would like to point out that some regions do need to step up their efforts. This particularly concerns the Irkutsk, Udmurt, Komi, Vladimir and Trans-Baikal regions," he pointed out.

Murashko added that the current situation highlighted the need to calculate all potential risks.

Coronavirus pandemic

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 2,190,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 147,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 553,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

To date, a total of 32,008 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 2,590 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 273 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.