MOSCOW, May 2. /TASS/. The number of coronavirus tests conducted in Moscow every day has doubled to 40,000, the city’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote on his blog on Saturday.

"Rospotrebnadzor [Russia’s consumer watchdog] has expanded the capacity of federal laboratories, making it possible to increase the number of lab tests five-fold compared to the previous month. We have doubled the number of daily polymerase chain reaction tests since April 30, reaching the 40,000 level," he said.

Sobyanin pointed out that the Moscow authorities were using the capacity of all medical facilities to combat the infection. He also emphasized the need to engage all parts of the health care system.

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 3,200,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 230,000 deaths have been reported.

To date, a total of 114,431 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 13,220 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 1,169 fatalities nationwide. Moscow accounts for the majority of cases (57,300). Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.