Russian govt should do its best to protect population from coronavirus - Mishustin
MOSCOW. Jan 30 (Interfax) - The Russian government should do its best to protect the population from the Wuhan coronavirus, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said at a government meeting on Thursday.
"Not a single case of this dangerous disease has been registered on Russian territory for now. But of course, we should do our best to protect our people," Mishustin said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin chaired a meeting dedicated to the coronavirus situation on Wednesday. "We are briefing him on a daily basis. I have also held a conference on the package of measures aimed at preventing the coronavirus from spreading and the readiness of our healthcare system to provide the relevant medical assistance," Mishustin said.
Mishustin noted that the operative headquarters for the prevention of the importation and spread of the new coronavirus, which were established on his orders and are headed by Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova, were operating round-the-clock.
According to the latest update from China's National Health Commission, the country has registered 7,711 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus (2019-nCoV); the illness rate has grown 29% (1,737 cases) within the past 24 hours. Most cases (4,587) have been observed in the Hubei province. The mortality rate stands at 2,2% (170 cases), which is below the mortality rate for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS, which killed 9.6% of patients in 2003) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS, which has a 36% mortality rate).
Seventy-four cases of importation of the new coronavirus have been confirmed in 15 countries (Australia, Vietnam, Germany, Canada, South Korea, Cambodia, Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, the United States, France, Sri Lanka, and Japan).