ST. PETERSBURG, April 29. /TASS/. The total number of recoveries from the coronavirus infection in St. Petersburg, which is among Russia’s three regions with the largest number of COVID-19 cases, has reached 708, the regional anti-coronavirus crisis center reported on Wednesday.

A record 164 patients have recovered in St. Petersburg over the past twenty-four hours, the crisis center said.

"A total of 708 people have recovered from the illness," the regional anti-coronavirus crisis center said in a statement. A day earlier, the number of survivors stood at 544.

At the same time, St. Petersburg has registered 290 new coronavirus cases over the past twenty-four hours and their total number has climbed to 3,726. Two more patients have died, bringing the total number of fatalities in St. Petersburg to 29.

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 3,100,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 218,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 959,700 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

To date, a total of 99,399 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 10,286 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 972 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.