MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st March, 2020) Russia has suspended air traffic with South Korea due to increasing coronavirus cases in the Asian country, except for some flights, the Russian Transport Ministry said.
Earlier in the week, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said air traffic with South Korea would be suspended over coronavirus starting March 1, except for flights of flag carrier Aeroflot and its subsidiary Avrora.
The ministry said the restriction did not also concern Korean Air. In addition, Avrora, S7 and Yakutia Airlines will transport South Koreans to their home country and return to Russia only Russians and citizens of the Eurasian Economic Union member states.
On Wednesday, the Russian consumer rights watchdog recommended that citizens refrain from visiting Italy, South Korea, and Iran because of the exponential growth and spread of COVID-19 in the three countries.
As of Saturday, South Korea, which has the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases outside of China, has registered over 3,000 cases of the disease with 16 fatalities. On a global scale, to date, the epidemic has infected over 85,000 people, of whom 2,900 have died and nearly 40,000 have recovered.
