Moscow, December 14: Russia has detected its patient zero who transmitted the coronavirus (COVID-19) to others in the country, Anna Popova, the head of the national public health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said on Sunday. According to Anna Popova, Russia's COVID-19 patient zero is a male who "emerged" on March 1. Notably, by March 17, Russia had registered 100 COVID-19 cases. 'Chinese Health Authorities Confirm Patient Zero Had Sex With Bats'; Fake News Goes Viral, Here's The Fact Check.

"Yes, of course, we know [the first carrier], he emerged here literally on March 1, and by March 17 we already had 100 cases. Now we are already talking about (the person) who was already disseminating the infection," Popova told Rossiya 1 TV channel in response to a question. Russia's first three confirmed cases that were imported from China had not triggered the dissemination of the infection, Popova added. French Nobel Prize Winner Scientist Luc Montagnier Claims COVID-19 Virus Originated in Lab: Report.

What is Patient Zero?

A patient zero is a person who is identified as the first to get infected with an illness or disease or virus in an outbreak within a population. Epidemiological studies can help scientists to identify the individual who may have been the first person to start spreading the disease and so trigger the outbreak. The identification can answer key questions about how, when and why the outbreak started.

Coronavirus Cases in Russia:

With 28,080 new coronavirus (COVID-19) cases in the past 24 hours, Russia's overall tally reached 2,653,928 on Monday. The death toll now stands at 46,941. As many as 2,106,235 people have recovered from the infection so far. Over 82.6 million Covid-19 tests have been conducted across the country.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 14, 2020 11:56 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).