Russia's first confirmed coronavirus death is an elderly university professor who reportedly lectured until her hospitalization

On March 19, a chronically ill 79-year-old woman in Moscow diagnosed with coronavirus died from pneumonia, making her Russia’s first confirmed COVID-19 fatality. Before contracting the disease that’s now spreading across the world, the woman suffered from type-two diabetes, vascular disease, and high blood pressure. The woman was first hospitalized on March 13 at a private clinic before she as moved to an infectious disease facility, three days later.

According to the newspaper Moskovsky Komosmolets, the victim was a professor at Moscow’s Gubkin Russian State University of Oil and Gas, which has now been placed under quarantine. Sources told the newspaper that 120 students and 20 faculty members were recently in direct contact with the now-deceased woman. It’s unclear how she contracted COVID-19, as neither she nor any of her relatives recently traveled abroad. She was reportedly teaching classes until the day before her granddaughter called an ambulance. 

As of March 18, Russia had confirmed 147 cases of coronavirus.