MOSCOW, July 10. /TASS/: The Russian government will consider resuming international flights after July 15, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said at a briefing on Friday.
"As for the date when we could restart international air travel, we suggest July 15, 2020 and we suppose that, based on the air authorities’ negotiating position, the Transport Ministry and the Federal Air Transport Agency will be informing the government of the Russian Federation about the negotiation," she said.
Golikova added that the government would be briefed either once a week or in two weeks.
She said Russia would resume flights to those countries where the average incidence rate is below 40 cases per 100,000 population within 14 days, and the indicator will be calculated every two weeks.
"The first criterion is similar to those applied in other countries. It is a criterion related to the incidence rate of coronavirus per 100,000 population. We assume that it should be about 40 per 100,000 population in Russia. And the indicator is calculated - 40 [cases] per 100,000 population - for 14 days, which is a well-known incubation period," she said adding that in Russia that indicator tended to be falling.
According to Golikova, the second criterion will be a daily increase throughout 14 days and Russia will restart flights to only those countries where an average daily incidence of coronavirus will be below 1%. The third indicator is the coronavirus spread rate that should not exceed 1.
"The second indicator is an average daily increase over 14 days in new cases of coronavirus infection. The indicator should not be above one, or 1%. Finally, the third indicator is the coronavirus spread rate, which should not exceed 1 either," she said.
"The final criterion along with the average daily incidence rate are well-known indicators understandable to the country’s regions. They <…> have applied them since May 11, when the non-working period ended in Russia. Those indicators, among other things, were criteria for easing restrictions in the regions of the Russian Federation," Golikova explained.
"Every two weeks we will simultaneously assess epidemic situations in the countries basing on the criteria I have just voiced. And we will definitely regulate the issues related to a list of countries where we are resuming international flights to," she said.
Russia’s consumer safety watchdog submitted a list of 13 countries to the Transport Ministry and the Federal Air Transport Agency. The list includes the countries that Russia could restart flights to at the first stage, due to their suitable epidemic indicators. Among them are the United Kingdom, Hungary, Germany, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Finland, Vietnam, China, Mongolia and Sri Lanka.
In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.
On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 12,404,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 557,700 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 7,235,600 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.
To date, 713,936 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 489,068 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 11,017 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.
