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Russian rail agency has no plans to suspend train services to Europe amid coronavirus

On March 5, the train service from Moscow to France’s spa city of Nice, which runs through Belarus, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Italy and Monaco, was suspended in the wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak

KERCH /Crimea/, March 7. /TASS/. Russia has no plans to suspend more train services to Europe, Vladimir Chepets, head of Russia’s Federal Rail Transport Agency, told TASS on Saturday.

On March 5, the train service from Moscow to France’s spa city of Nice, which runs through Belarus, Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria, Italy and Monaco, was suspended in the wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

"[The Moscow-Nice train] was suspended because it runs through northern Italy. We will not be [imposing] anything else," he said when asked about new restrictions on rail services for Europe in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

In late December 2019, a pneumonia outbreak caused by the COVID-19 virus (previously known as 2019-nCoV) was reported in China’s city of Wuhan, an economic and industrial megacity with a population of 12 million. The World Health Organization declared the new coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern, characterizing it as an epidemic with multiple locations. Outside China, the worst affected countries are Iran, Italy and South Korea. Overall, more than 90 other countries, including Russia, have reported confirmed coronavirus cases.

According to the latest reports, China, which handles the bulk of cases, has confirmed around 80,000 cases of patients infected with the novel coronavirus. The virus’ death toll has reached more than 3,000, yet more than 55,500 patients have recovered from the disease. WHO says that new coronavirus cases outside China have passed 21,000, and there are over 400 deaths.