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None of patients in St Petersburg diagnosed with coronavirus — Health Ministry

A Russian national had been rushed to hospital from St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport after arriving from China

MOSCOW, January 22. /TASS/. The diagnoses of two patients in St. Petersburg have not been confirmed as new coronavirus, the Russian Health Ministry’s press service said on Wednesday.

It was earlier reported that a Russian national had been rushed to hospital from St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo Airport after arriving from China. The other patient is a Chinese student who has recently returned from homeland.

"None of the above mentioned patients has been diagnosed with coronavirus infection at the moment. We cannot rule out that their condition was caused by acute respiratory viral infection," the statement says.

The press office added that the patients were undergoing treatment in St. Petersburg’s relevant medical institutions. Doctors say their condition is stable and all the required medical assistance is provided.

Russian Health Minister Mikhail Murashko will personally supervise the treatment of the two patients, the Russian Health Ministry’s press office said on Wednesday.

"The issue of medical assistance for those citizens is taken under personal control by Health Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Murashko," the statement says.

The press office recalled that the center for strategic planning and for control of medical and biological risks to health of the Russian Health Ministry was completing the development of test systems detecting human coronavirus, which will allow diagnosing this infection within 30 minutes.

About virus

On December 31, 2019, the Chinese authorities informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of earlier unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan in central China. On January 7, Chinese specialists denoted the virus causing the disease as coronavirus 2019-nCoV. On Wednesday, Beijing confirmed 473 cases of a new coronavirus and 17 deaths. Originating in Wuhan, the coronavirus has spread to Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and other Chinese cities. One-off cases of infection have also been reported in Japan, South Korea and Thailand.

Russia’s Health Ministry has commissioned the development of vaccine against coronavirus and has begun talks with Chinese scientists about a possibility of obtaining biological samples in order to start developing the vaccine.