Russia Strengthens Quarantine Border Control Over Coronavirus Outbreak In China

Russia Strengthens Quarantine Border Control Over Coronavirus Outbreak in China

The Russian authorities have reinforced quarantine control at border crossing points due to an outbreak of a new coronavirus in neighboring China, the office of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said on Tuesday

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st January, 2020) The Russian authorities have reinforced quarantine control at border crossing points due to an outbreak of a new coronavirus in neighboring China, the office of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said on Tuesday.

"In connection with the complicated epidemiological situation caused by the spread of the new coronavirus in China, the government has organized and is carrying out all necessary measures aimed at reducing the risks to our citizens' health linked to the possibility of importing the pathogen of this disease into the country's territory," the office stated.

According to Golikova's office, the Russian consumer protection watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, has strengthened sanitary and quarantine control at the border crossing points and set up an algorithm of actions that need to be taken to identify people showing signs of the disease.

The mysterious type of pneumonia broke out in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late December and has since been confirmed by China and the World Health Organization to be a new strain of coronavirus, called 2019-nCoV, that can be transmitted from human to human. At least six people have died and more than 300 have been infected so far.

The virus has also been registered in Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and Thailand.

Meanwhile, countries around the world have stepped up screening procedures at international airports in preparation for an expected influx of Chinese tourists during the upcoming Lunar New Year holidays.