CHISINAU, March 8. /TASS/. Moldova’s President Igor Dodon interrupted his working visit to Russia after a novel coronavirus case was confirmed in his country, the Moldovan leader wrote on his Facebook page on Sunday.
"I made a decision to interrupt my working visit to Moscow where meetings were planned in the coming days with the leadership of the Russian Federation. I am returning home today to get fully involved in the authorities’ work for overcoming difficulties that have arisen," Dodon wrote.
"The government’s measures are correct and prompt, which is stressed by representatives of the World Health Organization in Chisinau," the Moldovan president said, urging all citizens to display responsibility in the wake of the threat that had emerged.
"The virus has no political color and that is why I am urging all the citizens, including politicians, to take joint efforts and be more responsible for jointly overcoming the crisis caused by the coronavirus," Dodon emphasized.
The Moldovan president called on diaspora compatriots staying in the virus-effected areas to get convinced that they were not infected before returning home.
The first novel coronavirus case was registered in Moldova on Saturday. A 48-year-old woman who had arrived on a Milan-Chisinau flight on that day tested positive for the infection. The authorities quarantined 45 passengers who had stayed close to her.
On December 31, 2019, the Chinese authorities reported to the World Health Organization about an outbreak of pneumonia of unknown etiology in Wuhan, an economic and industrial megalopolis with a population of 11 million.
The virus was identified on January 7 as 2019-nCoV. As of today, 103 countries and territories, including Russia, have reported confirmed coronavirus cases.
The World Health Organization declared the new coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, characterizing it as an epidemic with multiple locations. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated on February 11 that the organization gave the novel coronavirus an official name of COVID-19.
According to the latest reports, over 106,200 cases of patients infected with the novel coronavirus have been confirmed in China and other countries. The virus’ death toll has reached 3,600, yet more than 60,190 patients have recovered from the disease.
The largest number of coronavirus infections outside China has been registered in South Korea, Iran and Italy.