MOSCOW (Sputnik) —Earlier in the day, Russian public health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor confirmed the first case of the Zika virus in the country.
"It is not dangerous, it is dangerous [only] for pregnant [women]… A mass outbreak is impossible, because the situation, where thousands of people in a period of incubation comes to us, is not real, it could not be," Viktor Maleev told RIA Novosti.
The Zika virus is transmitted by daytime active mosquitoes. It does not cause serious complications in adults, but is suspected of leading to severe brain defects in newborns.
The Zika outbreak originated in Brazil in the spring of 2015, before spreading across Latin America and gaineding widespread media attention as confirmations of the first cases emerged in Europe and the United States in recent weeks.
