MOSCOW, May 15. /TASS/. A total of 256,000 people remain under medical surveillance in Russia due to being suspected of having contracted the novel coronavirus, the press service of Russia’s consumer rights watchdog reported on Friday.

"[A total of] 256,000 people remain under medical surveillance in Russia," the press service said.

According to the watchdog, more than 6.4 million coronavirus tests have been conducted throughout the country, with 225,000 tests conducted over the past 24 hours.

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. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.