ST. PETERSBURG, April 29. /TASS/. A repatriation flight transporting Russian citizens who were unable to return home from Italy due to the novel coronavirus pandemic has landed in St. Petersburg, a representative of the company operating St. Petersburg Pulkovo International Airport informed.
"The plane has landed at 19:21 Moscow time," the representative said.
The flight is operated by Aeroflot, with 105 Russians onboard.
The Russian diplomatic mission in Italy informed that more people had been registered for the flight, however, 50 people were unable to get to Rome to board the plane on time for various reasons.
After disembarking passengers residing in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, the plane will head to Moscow. Over half of all passengers - 56 people - will disembark the plane in St. Petersburg. All of them will undergo medical examinations. If a passenger exhibits symptoms of a viral disease, they will be hospitalized. Passengers with no symptoms of the disease will be obligated to self-isolate either at their homes or at a specially established quarantine residence.
Due to mass cancelation of international flights caused by the novel coronavirus pandemic, hundreds of thousands Russians have been stranded abroad. Special exit flights are organized for their evacuation. The Russian government has introduced a quota for the return of Russian nationals from abroad: 500 people a day arriving to Moscow and the Moscow Region and 200 people a day arriving to other regions. Those who remain abroad can apply for material aid.
To date, a total of 99,399 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 10,286 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 972 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.
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 3,100,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 218,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 959,700 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.