COVID-19: 10 Russian lawmakers quarantined over coronavirus

Russia to test everyone returning from Europe for COVID-19

Several MPs of Russia’s lower house of parliament have been quarantined over the coronavirus threat, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said on Tuesday.

According to the head of the State Duma’s committee on control and regulations, Olga Savastyanova, ten MPs have been quarantined. The lawmakers, including from the ruling United Russia party, contacted with an MP from the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Sergey Katasonov, who had ignored coronavirus quarantine after returning from France.

Later, Katasonov said he had tested negative for the novel coronavirus. "Some of our MPs have been quarantined due to the fault of our colleague [Sergey Katasonov - TASS], who ignored the rules," Volodin told a plenary meeting. In view of this, some MPs from the LDPR faction and the United Russia party, who were in direct contact with him, have been forced to self-quarantine.

Meanwhile, Head of the Russian Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare Anna Popova ordered Russian regional heads to test everyone returning from Europe to Russia in the past 14 days for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

"To ensure that all people who have returned from Europe in the past two weeks or who arrived with a stopover in a European state are tested for COVID-19, along with all persons who have returned from abroad in the past month and sought medical aid due to having cold symptoms," the document says.

The document also rules to establish the procedure of lab testing among persons with no symptoms of the virus and those who have not come into contact with coronavirus-infected persons. The order proposes to carry out tests for COVID-19 at airports.

The outbreak of a disease caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was registered in central China in late December 2019. The World Health Organization recognized the situation with the novel coronavirus as a pandemic on March 11.

Outside China, the worst affected countries are Italy, South Korea and Iran. 

Overall, more than 130 countries have reported confirmed coronavirus cases. The novel coronavirus cases globally have exceeded 180,000, with over 7,000 deaths.

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