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Coronavirus pandemic

Impossible to make Moscow restricted-area city, says mayor

He also expressed confidence in revival of domestic tourism, as foreign destinations are currently closed for tourists

© Vladimir Gerdo/TASS

MOSCOW, July 17. /TASS/. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin is afraid of coronavirus cases imported from outside of the city, since it is impossible to make Moscow a city of restricted access anyway, he said Friday.

"We are not afraid that someone can bring something to us, Moscow is the biggest national transport hub. Millions of people constantly travel here for work, leave, go on business trips or holidays. It is not possible to turn Moscow into a closed-down city," he noted.

He also expressed confidence in revival of domestic tourism, as foreign destinations are currently closed for tourists.

"We can see it in flows of tourists to Crimea, Sevastopol, Sochi, Krasnodar Region and even Siberia. This is a great chance for the Russian tourist industry to mature and realize its advantages and capabilities," Sobyanin added.

The spread of coronavirus in Moscow has significantly slowed down in the last few weeks, the number of newly identified infections in the city is commensurate with figures from early April. At the same time, some other Russian regions are still reporting worrying numbers.

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 13,964,200 people have been infected worldwide and more than 593,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 8,295,200 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

To date, 759,203 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 539,373 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 12,123 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.

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