Russia tightens sanitary control on border over deadly coronavirus
MOSCOW. May 13 (Interfax) - Russia has tightened sanitary control on its borders for people arriving from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) because of a new coronavirus that has reportedly claimed 18 lives since September 2012.
Russia's Federal Service for the Protection of Customers' Rights and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor) said in a statement, citing the World Health Organization, that there had been 34 registered cases of the new coronavirus infection, 18 of them fatal, in six countries since September.
The disease involved "a severe respiratory syndrome (atypical pneumonia) and kidney failure," Rospotrebnadzor said.
Saudi Arabia tops the list with 24 cases, 13 of which have had a lethal outcome, the service said.
All the 34 cases were either people who had been to Saudi Arabia, Qatar or the UAE or contacted coronavirus carriers.
There have been registered limited cases of the virus being transmitted from one family member to another or from one patient to another in a hospital room. For this reason, WHO believes the virus can be transmitted from person to person during close contact, Rospotrebnadzor said.