MOSCOW, January 12. /TASS/. As many as 215,000 coronavirus patients remain hospitalized in Russia, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said at a meeting of the presidium of the government’s Anti-Coronavirus Coordination Council on Tuesday.
"A total of 215,000 patients are undergoing treatment in hospitals, and about 870,000 are receiving outpatient care," he specified. Last week, Murashko said that 211,600 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 remained hospitalized in the country.
According to the health minister, medical facilities did not face a shortage of beds for coronavirus patients during the holiday season. As many as 23% of coronavirus beds remain vacant, Murashko added.
"The coronavirus situation is under control. There are enough hospital beds, recovered patients are discharged from medical facilities in a timely fashion, so there have been no bed shortages. Twenty-three percent of hospital beds are vacant at the moment," the Russian health minister pointed out.
Coronavirus pandemic
In late December 2019, Chinese officials informed 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 90.0 mln people have been infected worldwide and more than 1.9 mln deaths have been reported.
According to the national anti-coronavirus crisis center, 3,448,203 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 2,825,430 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 62,804 fatalities nationwide. The Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.