MOSCOW, May 13. /TASS/. Over 100,000 patients have been hospitalized in Russia on suspicion of having contracted the novel coronavirus, including 4,000 children, Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko stated on Wednesday during a government session on the social-economic situation in the country.
On May 6, he reported that 80,000 people were hospitalized on suspicion of COVID-19, a disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
"Currently, there are over 100,000 patients at Russian hospitals, including 4,000 children, suspected of having contracted the coronavirus infection," the minister said.
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 4,355,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 293,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 1,610,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.
To date, a total of 242,271 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 48,003 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 2,212 fatalities nationwide.