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No high risks of Zika spread to Russia from Brazil Olympics — watchdog

Russian watchdog head says if the sanitary-epidemiological rules are observed there are no high risks of the Zika virus spreading

MOSCOW, May 30. /TASS/. The head of Russia’s consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova said on Monday she sees no high risks of Zika virus spread to Russia from Brazil that hosts the Summer Olympics this August.

"Today we can say that if the [sanitary-epidemiological] rules are observed there are no high risks of this disease’s spreading," Popova told reporters.

There are also no risks of contracting the Zika virus for Russian athletes in the Olympic village in Rio de Janeiro, she added. "The colleagues who inspected the places of stay of our athletes are absolutely sure that there are no risks," she stressed.

The Zika virus was first isolated in 1947 in the Zika Forest of Uganda. Last May, when the virus started rapidly spreading in Brazil and then spread to other countries of South and North America, it became a topic for wider discussion.

At the moment, outbreaks have been registered in Asia, Africa, in South and North America and in the Pacific region. Medical professionals note special concern for infected pregnant women, whose children risk developing brain-damaging microcephaly.