Russia announced on Friday that it will reduce the number of its air routes with the European Union from Monday onwards to curb the spread of the pandemic caused by the new coronavirus.
Read also: Coronavirus: Russia erects a sanitary cordon on its border with China
The restrictions will be imposed " to ensure the security of the country, protect public health and prevent the spread of contamination by the new coronavirus in Russia, " according to a statement posted online by the Russian health authorities. It was " decided to temporarily limit passenger air transport " from March 16 just after midnight Moscow time (21:00 GMT), it was added from the same sources. These measures apply to flights " from the territory of the Russian Federation to the territory of the member states of the European Union and in the opposite direction ", the health authorities continued, without further details. Air links with Norway and Switzerland are included in these restrictions.
However, flights between the capitals of the EU countries and Moscow are exempt from these measures, as are those between the Russian capital and Oslo and Geneva, the same sources were said, without providing any explanations. Russian news agencies noted that air links between Moscow and the United Kingdom would also not be affected by the restrictions.
Russia has registered 45 cases of contamination with the new coronavirus but no deaths, according to official data made public on Friday. It had already closed its border with China and limited travel from Iran and South Korea to prevent the spread of the virus.
Read also: LIVE - Coronavirus: 800 new cases in France, 79 deaths in total
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/KMEYMJKESBAZBE4MRBAM4TGHIQ.jpg)
