NOVO-OGARYOVO, April 30. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has highlighted the importance of psychological support of Russian nationals during the novel coronavirus pandemic.

"When we are going through such difficult times as today, we need to focus on this once again, understand what we are lacking, support these specialists," the president said. "Society must understand once again how necessary this is." Putin noted that psychological support in Russia had always been overlooked to a certain extent.

The president noted that on the outcomes of the current situation, the majority of citizens, public organizations and government structures would realize the importance of psychological aid and would pay more attention to it.

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 3,200,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 228,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 1,000,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

To date, a total of 106,498 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 11,619 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 1,073 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.