MOSCOW, April 20. /TASS/. Judging by the number of coronavirus infections by every 100,000 people, Russia ranks at 64th place in the world. The death rate is also much lower in Russia than in other countries, expert of the Russian consumer watchdog Viktor Maleyev said Monday.
"It is a significant achievement that the number of fatalities [among coronavirus patients] in relation to the overall number of patients is much lower than in other countries," he told a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the epidemiological situation in the country.
Maleyev also noted that Russia is currently placed 64th in the list if counted by the number of infections by 100,000 people.
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 2,414,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 165,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 629,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.
To date, a total of 47,121 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 3,446 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 405 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.