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No coronavirus reinfection cases in Russia — chief sanitary doctor

Head of Russia’s consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova said that "once a patient has pulled through, they remain healthy further on"

MOSCOW, April 8. /TASS/. Russia has not registered any cases when a patient was re-infected with coronavirus after recovering from the illness, head of Russia’s consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova told reporters on Wednesday.

"As of today, there are no cases of reinfection. Once a patient has pulled through, they remain healthy further on," Popova told Rossiya-1 television channel.

Popova pointed out that the virus had mutated "extremely rarely" over the past three months, which gives hope that the preventive measures, being developed now, including a vaccine, would be effective, "while virus mutations will not yield some negative results and will not spoil the forecast."

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 1,400,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 82,000 deaths have been reported. That said, over 300,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

To date, a total of 8,672 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 580 patients having recovered from the virus. Moscow accounts for the majority of cases (5,841). The country’s latest data indicates 63 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.