Russia to Fully Close Land Borders Amid Rising COVID-19 Cases

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] As the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) accelerates, Russia has decided to close all its borders starting from the 30th (local time), according to TASS news agency and others on the 28th.

According to the report, the Russian government issued a government decree under Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin on the same day, instructing, "The Ministry of Transport, together with the Federal Security Service (FSB) which has border guards under its jurisdiction, the Federal Customs Service, and the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing (Rospotrebnadzor), which is responsible for health and quarantine, shall temporarily restrict movement through border control points for automobiles, railways, maritime, and pedestrian traffic from 0:00 on the 30th Moscow time." The decree added that this measure also applies to the border between Russia and neighboring Belarus.

Previously, Russia controlled the borders in the Far East and Siberian regions adjacent to China to prevent the epidemic from entering from China, where COVID-19 first emerged. However, as the spread of COVID-19 has recently accelerated within Russia, the land border control has been expanded nationwide.

Russian health authorities announced that in the past 24 hours, 228 new confirmed COVID-19 cases were reported across 62 regions in Russia, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 1,264. In particular, 114 confirmed cases were reported in Moscow alone within one day. The death toll stands at 4.

New confirmed cases were also reported in the Moscow region near Moscow with 36 additional cases, and in Saint Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city, with 11 new confirmed cases.

In Russia, the number of new confirmed cases exceeded three digits (163 cases) for the first time on the 25th and has been increasing rapidly since then. Mainly Russians returning from visits to European countries are getting infected first, and as they transmit the virus to their family members and other contacts, the number of confirmed cases is rapidly rising.

According to statistics from Johns Hopkins University in the United States, the total number of confirmed cases worldwide surpassed 650,000 on the same day, and the death toll exceeded 30,000.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.