Russia will suspend all international flights from Friday midnight (Thursday 9:00 p.m. GMT), according to a government decree establishing new measures against the coronavirus published on Thursday. This decree applies to all flights entering and leaving Russian territory, with the exception of special planes chartered to repatriate Russian citizens stranded abroad.
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Russia had so far largely reduced its international connection, which was only possible between Moscow and the other capitals and necessarily operated by the national airline Aeroflot.
Russia officially registered 658 cases of patients with coronavirus and announced Wednesday that two patients of 73 and 88 years died, without however directly linking their death to Covid-19.
The same decree published Thursday brings into force several measures announced in recent days, including the closure of many public places in the Russian regions, where very few measures have so far been taken to stem the spread of the epidemic of the new coronavirus.