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Chief sanitary doctor warns against Saudi Arabia, UAE trips because of new virus

“The situation looks like this - all in all 49 people have been infected, and 27 have died - more than a half,” he said

MOSCOW, May 31 (Itar-Tass) - The head of Rospotrebnadzor consumer rights watchdog, Gennady Onishchenko advises Russian nationals against trips to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates because of a danger to be infected with novel coronavirus.

“The situation looks like this - all in all 49 people have been infected, and 27 have died - more than a half,” he said at a news conference. “Saudi Arabia is the leader. So forget about the coast of Saudi Arabia and the Emirates. Qatar and Jordan also fix infection cases,” Onishchenko said. “Most of these cases are registered in Saudi Arabia,” he said, adding that a sharp growth was fixed in two weeks of May, while the situation is being monitored since September 2012.

“We received the novel coronavirus that behaves so aggressively from the Netherlands,” he said. “We are studying this virus, develop new test systems,” the head of Rospotrebnadzor said.

“I have approved a program for coronavirus studies,” he said. “We have developed a lab method to detect the DNA of that virus,” Onishchenko informed.