The unknown type of pneumonia was first detected in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late December. Chinese experts later tentatively determined that this was a new strain of coronavirus, currently being labelled as 2019-nCoV or Novel Coronavirus. More than 600 cases have already been confirmed across China, with 18 people having died of the disease.
“Rospotrebnadzor calls on Russian tourists to refrain from visiting the People’s Republic of China until the stabilization of the epidemiological situation. The situation is being controlled by the Rospotrebnadzor,” the body said in a statement.
The watchdog also said that no suspected cases of new coronavirus were found among the passengers, who arrived in Russia from China by plane.
“Rospotrebnadzor introduced monitoring of flights arriving from China. As for 23.01.2020, no suspected cases of coronavirus have been detected,” the statement noted.
The body added that it had boosted sanitary control at border crossing points as well as instructed medical staff how to act if a suspected case of new coronavirus is detected.
Confirmed cases of new coronavirus have also been recorded in the United States, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand. On Thursday, the World Health Organization said it was too early to declare a global emergency over the outbreak.