Russia announced it will temporarily ban Chinese nationals from entering the country due to the coronavirus outbreak which emerged from China and has infected more than 73,000 people worldwide.
The country’s newly elected prime minister Mikhail Mishustin signed the decree, according to which the ban goes into effect today at midnight Moscow time and will last for an indefinite period.
Russia previously had imposed other travel restrictions. The government explained it imposed the ban due to the “worsening epidemiological situation” in China.
So far, Russia has had only three confirmed cases of the virus. Two of them are Chinese citizens who were treated and released, and the third is a Russian national infected on the Diamond Princess cruise ship now quarantined in Japan.
The authorities have also hospitalized hundreds of people as a safety measure after they returned from China.
Europe has recently confirmed its first death among the 47 confirmed coronavirus cases. The patient was an 80-year-old Chinese tourist in Paris who was initially turned away by two French hospitals.