MOSCOW, June 2. /TASS/. Russia has managed to strengthen its healthcare system by taking integrated measures to counter the coronavirus epidemic, World Health Organization (WHO) representative to Russia Melita Vujnovic said in an interview with Russia’s coronavirus internet hotline.

"Application of a range of various measures during the epidemic in the phases 2-3 (from individual cases to groups of cases) allowed Russia to boost its public health systems (epidemiology and testing) and healthcare system (hospital beds, staff training and equipment). Intensive communications and informing the nation prepared it for non-medical measures," she said.

The WHO envoy emphasized that public health experts succeeded in determining the geographical spread of the epidemic through testing that identified many infections.

"The healthcare system admitted everyone who needed hospitalization and highly specialized help, including distance consultations for everyone from reference centers. Medical staff bore an enormous burden as well as everyone working in urgent medical care, primary medical care and ambulances, doing this heroic labor," Vujnovic underlined.

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 6,383,800 people have been infected worldwide and more than 377,700 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 2,920,880 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

To date, a total of 423,741 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 186,985 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 5,037 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.