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Coronavirus pandemic

First two COVID-19 cases confirmed in Russia’s Far Eastern Primorsky region

Both patients are in good condition, developing a relatively mild form of the disease

© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

VLADIVOSTOK, March 24. /TASS/. The first two cases of the novel coronavirus infection have been confirmed in Russia’s Far Eastern Primorsky region, the local administration’s press service said on Tuesday.

"Laboratory tests have officially confirmed two cases of the novel coronavirus infection in the Primorsky region. Both patients have returned from a foreign trip," the press service said. "The health ministry of Primorsky said they had been placed under medical supervision at an infectious diseases hospital."

Both patients are in good condition, developing a relatively mild form of the disease.

People who contacted with them are also kept under medical supervision.

A pneumonia outbreak caused by the COVID-19 virus (previously known as 2019-nCoV) was reported in China’s city of Wuhan, a large trade and industrial center with a population of 12 million, in late December 2019. Cases of the new coronavirus have also been reported in more than 150 countries and territories, among them Russia, which by now has documented 438 cases. According to recent data, novel coronavirus cases across the globe have exceeded 333,000, with more than 14,000 deaths. WHO has officially described the situation with the novel coronavirus as a pandemic.

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