Rospotrebnadzor strengthened sanitary-quarantine control on all borders of Russia due to a new type of coronavirus recorded in China. This was reported by the head of the department Anna Popova. According to her, the checkpoints tightened the search as early as December 31, the danger to the country was “completely minimized”.
“We have our own test system, we developed it ... We have tightened control at the border, at all 200-odd checkpoints, tightened control,” RIA Novosti quotes Popova.
In particular, at the Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport, specialists check passengers arriving from China using portable and stationary thermal imagers. If a passenger has a fever, a medical team is immediately called on board, and if symptoms of coronavirus infection are detected, the passenger is isolated in a special room and hospitalized in the infectious diseases hospital.
Similar measures were taken by the Beijing Capital International Airport. To prevent the spread of the virus, doctors will begin to measure the temperature of all arrivals from Wuhan - the city where the outbreak was first recorded. The airport terminals will increase the amount of air supplied from air purifiers, as well as strengthen measures for the sterilization of rooms.
In turn, London Heathrow Airport said it would create a separate area for passengers arriving from regions where cases of the disease were noted.
- Medical staff near the hospital in Wuhan
- Reuters
- © REUTERS / Stringer / File
The doctor, expert Timur Pesterev, in a conversation with RT, explained that in some patients there is only a slight malaise, and in those whose body is weakened by other diseases, the virus “is in full swing.”
“Too much fear is not worth it. Coronavirus, in principle, is well known to humans. We can say that this is SARS, we need standard methods of protection: not to appear in crowded places, to take precautions - use masks and other methods of protection against infection, ”he said.
The expert added that even if this infection comes to Russia, it is unlikely to spread.
“We have a pretty good anti-epidemic service, and the awareness of the population is high,” he said.
At the end of December 2019, authorities in the Chinese city of Wuhan reported an outbreak of pneumonia of unknown origin. Later, the Central Television of China with reference to a group of specialists called the cause of the disease a new type of coronavirus.
To date, cases have been reported in Beijing, Shanghai and other major cities of the country.
According to the latest data, 17 people have already died from the virus. The number of people infected in Hubei Province, where the disease was first diagnosed, was 444.
This was told by the head of the Provincial Health Committee Yang Yunyan, reports TASS.
The virus has already begun to spread outside of China. According to the authorities of the PRC, cases of the disease were recorded in Japan, Thailand, South Korea, and the United States. Several people were hospitalized with suspected coronavirus in Singapore and Mexico.
On January 22, the media reported that a Russian suspected of having a virus was sent to the Botkin Clinical Infectious Disease Hospital in St. Petersburg from Russia, arriving from China at Pulkovo Airport. A second treatment was then reported with similar symptoms.
“The second case is registered today. This is a citizen of China, who arrived in St. Petersburg earlier, a week ago. Due to poor health today, he turned to a medical commercial institution. After that, he was also hospitalized with symptoms of acute respiratory viral infections, high fever in the infectious diseases hospital named after S.P. Botkin, ”TASS was told in the press service of the Rospotrebnadzor department in St. Petersburg.
Meanwhile, the city authorities did not confirm the case of a coronavirus in a citizen of the PRC.
“A Chinese citizen has not confirmed coronavirus. The tests are ready, he has the usual ARVI, ”the press service of the city health committee quotes TASS.
In turn, the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Education and Science, Gennady Onishchenko, on the eve called the situation with the disease serious, and also urged Russians to refrain from traveling to China, where they will celebrate New Year from January 25 to February 1.
“And I think that on the first day the situation will not change for the better - growth is possible, because everyone is mixed up. This also applies to Russia, because in the Far East there are many Chinese who constantly work with us: they all will go there, and then they will come back, ”Onishchenko said.
The World Health Organization announced an emergency committee meeting on January 22, during which WHO will be able to assess the situation and make recommendations to all countries. The meeting is attended by experts from Rospotrebnadzor.
Senior Researcher, Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology N.F. Gamalei, academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Felix Ershov, in a conversation with RT, noted that cases of death are alarming.
The expert recalled that for the first time the attention of the world community was riveted on coronaviruses in 2002, when the first epidemic began in China, spreading to a number of countries and provoking a panic due to high mortality.
The academician explained that the danger of a new virus is still difficult to predict, but the situation needs to be seriously controlled.
“We know that jokes are bad with viruses. Most importantly, there is no vaccine against him, and the antiviral drugs that exist have not yet been tested against him, there have been no observations. The percentage of the dead, in essence, cannot be considered high, this is not half, not 80%, while it is 1%. But still, since there is a lethality, this is alarming. We must be on the alert, ”he added.