MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/: Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin supported on Monday the request by head of the Russian Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing Anna Popova to strengthen responsibility for violating quarantine procedures.
"We will do that without fail, we need to formulate it after the presidium [meeting]," he said opening a meeting of the presidium of the government's Coordination Council to control the incidence of the novel coronavirus in Russia in response to a request from the chief sanitary physician.
During the meeting, Popova asked Mishustin to accelerate the implementation of the instructions to strengthen administrative liability for violating quarantine rules. "That’s very relevant today," she said.
Mishustin thanked doctors for their dedicated work, especially in Moscow, which made it possible to create both logistics and the system for testing citizens for coronavirus. In his view, joint efforts of authorities and doctors make it possible to keep the situation under control.
"Also, I would like to highlight the need to quarantine all citizens arriving [in Russia] from various countries. According to statistics, 69,632 people have crossed Russia’s state border and were subjected to sanitary and quarantine control. About eight percent less people were placed under medical supervision and quarantine. That’s not self-isolation, but compulsory isolation of citizens," Popova noted.
The current coronavirus illness was registered in central China at the end of December 2019. On March 11, the World Health Organization declared it a pandemic. COVID-19 infection cases have been recorded in more than 150 countries. According to the latest data, over 300,000 people have contracted the virus, more than 13,000 of them have died. A total of 438 cases have been confirmed in Russia so far.
