Doctors to be locked in Tyumen health center with quarantined people evacuated from China for 14 days
TYUMEN. Feb 5 (Interfax) - Citizens of Russia and other countries evacuated from China will remain under medical observation for two weeks, Rospotrebnadzor Director and chief state sanitary inspector Anna Popova said.
"Medical observation will take place for 14 days, during which the citizens placed in the center will not be able to leave it," Popova said at a briefing in Tyumen on Wednesday.
All citizens who arrived in Russia from China on special flights were warned about the need for such quarantine, she said.
Specially trained doctors will observe their health. They will spend 14 days in quarantine with the people.
"Those medical workers and the personnel will stay in the same building as the patients for the full 14 days, but they will be in different premises, in different sections, in different wings of the building, they will not cross paths with each other without special protective means. Without the right to come out and without the right to leave the territory of the building," Popova said.
Supervision of the evacuees' health will be constant, she said.
The living conditions in quarantine will be good, Popova said. In particular, she said there are special spaces composed of several rooms for families with children. She said the first problem the arriving evacuees had was that there were no chargers for mobile phones, but the problem was promptly resolved.
"As soon as our citizens got settled, it became clear that there was a problem with the connecting devices for electronic communication devices. That problem was resolved within one hour; special connecting devices have now been delivered so the people can use them. And it's the same at every step if the people in this center have any kind of problems," Popova said.
Popova also said that Rospotrebnadzor specialists are in the Tyumen region and they supervise the observance of biological safety rules inside the center.
Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said the center's personnel are qualified in the area of infectious diseases. He also said express labs had been set up in the center where full biochemical blood tests can be performed.
"A portable X-ray unit has been installed, extra wards have been deployed if needed. That is, the facility has all equipment. All medication has been delivered," Murashko said.
One hundred and forty-four people were evacuated from Wuhan to the Tyumen region on two Russian Aerospace Forces planes on Wednesday. All of them are healthy. Specialists disinfected the luggage and took other special measures upon their arrival.
The evacuees will spend 14 days at the rehabilitation center Gradostroitel, which is situated 30 kilometers outside the city of Tyumen.
The center is located far from residential areas, has two security perimeters, and is protected by the Russian National Guard. The center has a decontamination chamber and autonomous sewage cleaning systems, which will prevent any environmental contamination. There are also special facilities for disposing of medical waste. Staff at the center will wear protective suits.