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Coronavirus pandemic

Russia restricts air service with Turkey from April 15 to June 1

The move is taken in view of the threat of the new coronavirus strain

© Sergei Karpukhin/TASS

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MOSCOW, April 12. /TASS/. Russia imposes restrictions on regular and chartered air service with Turkey for a period from April 15 to June 1 to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus infection, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova said on Monday.

"We have taken a decision to restrict regular and chartered air service from Russian international airports to Turkish airports and back from April 15 to June 1, except flights necessary for the participation of Concern Titan-2 Joint-Stock Company in the construction of a nuclear power plant <…>, bringing Russian nationals vacationing in Turkey home," she said, adding that two flights, from Moscow to Istanbul and from Istanbul to Moscow would only be allowed per week on a reciprocal basis.

Apart from that, Russia suspends air service with Tanzania from April 15 to June 1. "Based on the analysis of the epidemiological data, we have decided to suspend air service with Tanzania <…> from April 15 to June 1," the deputy prime minister said.

Air service with Tanzania and Turkey will be resumed when the coronavirus situation in these countries stabilizes, according to Tatiana Golikova. "I would like to stress that we will keep a close eye on the situation. And if the situation in Turkey and Tanzania stabilizes, we will keep our nationals duly informed so that they could buy travel packages to these countries," she said.

According to the latest statistics, around 136.1 million people have been infected worldwide and more than 2.9 million deaths have been reported.

To date, 4,649,710 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 4,272,165 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 103,263 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.

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