MOSCOW, February 25. /TASS/. Termination of flights between Russia and Italy due to the outbreak of coronavirus infection is not up for discussion yet, a source in the Russian transport industry told TASS.
"At the moment, the termination of flight connection [with Italy] is not up for discussion. There were no relevant instructions either from the Foreign Ministry or from Rospotrebnadzor (Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-Being)," the source said. The Federal Air Transport Agency did not comment on this information.
On February 21, Russia’s first low-cost airline Pobeda announced that it would cancel four international flights in its summer timetable due to delay in deliveries of Boeing 737 max. The canceled flights include flights from Moscow to Italy (Bari, Genoa, Palermo) and Dalaman (Turkey).
On December 31, Chinese authorities informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about an outbreak of an unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan - a large trade and industrial center in central China populated by 12 million people. The WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak in China a global health emergency. According to the latest reports, over 77,600 cases of patients infected with the novel coronavirus have been confirmed in China and other countries.
In China, the virus’ death toll has hit the number of 2,663, yet more than 27,200 patients have recovered from the disease.
Currently, the total number of people infected with the coronavirus in Italy is about 290. Most of them live in the northern regions of Lombardy and Veneto, where local spots of virus spread emerged. According to the Russian Embassy in Italy, there are no Russian citizens among those infected.