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More than 1.3 million people examined for coronavirus in Russia

MOSCOW, January 27. /TASS/. The Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-Being of Russia has examined more than 1.3 million people since December 31 in a bid to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus in Russia, the watchdog head Anna Popova told journalists Monday.

"Since December 31, we have inspected 20,365 transports, 6,746 of them - from the People’s Republic of China. This number includes both plane flights and ground transport. We have examined more than 1.3 million people, picking more than 100 people for a [detailed] examination, whom we have diagnosed individually," she said.

The watchdog is ready to look into requests for assistance from China, if needed.

"We are ready to look into requests from our Chinese colleagues. I would like to underscore that, during the first days of the outbreak, we have relayed an offer of epidemiological security assistance through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through Russian Embassy in China," Popova said.

On December 31, Chinese authorities informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about an outbreak of an unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan - a large trade and industrial center in central China populated by 11 million people. On January 7, Chinese experts identified the infecting agent - coronavirus 2019-nCoV. The new type of coronavirus has already been identified in almost all Chinese provinces including Beijing and Shanghai as well as in other countries - Australia, France, Thailand, Vietnam, South Korea, Singapore, the United States and Japan. The WHO recognized the pneumonia outbreak in China as a national emergency but refrained from declaring an international one.