MOSCOW, May 12. /TASS/. Coronavirus can stay in the environment and can live on surfaces for up to 72 hours, head of Russia’s consumer watchdog Anna Popova told a briefing in the Russian Government House on Tuesday.
"Today, it has been shown and additionally proven that the virus is rather resistant in the environment. It stays on surfaces for up to 72 hours. Therefore, another demand set out in the new [anti-coronavirus] recommendation is to ramp up disinfection measures," she noted.
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 4,269,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 287,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 1,534,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.
To date, a total of 232,243 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 43,512 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 2,116 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.