By Elena Teslova
MOSCOW (AA) – Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin admitted on Monday that the country ordered expulsion of foreigners who were infected with the coronavirus.
The premier ordered to put the coronavirus on the list of highly infectious diseases, allowing for stricter measures against foreign citizens with signs of illness, including quarantine and expulsion.
"Now it [new type of coronavirus] is added to the list of highly infectious diseases. This will allow to deport foreign citizens, if they are found to have such disease, and to announce special restrictive measures, including isolation and quarantine," Mishustin said at a daily briefing with vice premiers in Moscow.
He also reminded that Russia closed the border with China, suspended the traffic on the Russian-Mongolian border, and temporarily prohibited delivery of group, tourist and work visas to the Chinese citizens.
In addition, Mishustin agreed to postpone the Sochi Investment Forum, slated for mid-February, where 500 of 2,000 registered participants are from the countries with officially announced cases of the coronavirus.
The novel coronavirus, so named because under the microscope it resembles a crown, or corona in Latin, has killed at least 361 people in China, with over 17,200 infected.
The virus, which originated in Wuhan, is said to have been transmitted to humans from animals, particularly bats.
Since its outbreak, China has put Wuhan under lockdown in a bid to contain the virus and is building a 1,000-bed hospital to treat those affected.
Beyond China, the virus has spread to Japan, South Korea, Thailand, the U.S., France, Germany, Vietnam, Malaysia, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, India, Nepal, Russia, and Canada.
According to the World Health Organization's local office on Sunday, a 44-year-old man who reportedly died of the coronavirus in the Philippines on Saturday became the first confirmed death outside China. The patient was a Chinese from the city of Wuhan in the Hubei province, where the virus was first detected.
Travelers from China are being screened for the virus at airports worldwide. Several airlines have suspended flights to Wuhan.
