MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has set out to mitigate human losses from the spread of the coronavirus-induced pneumonia during a meeting on disease prevention in Russia.
"We know quite well that in almost every country of the world, including our own, lives are lost to pneumonia and flu, and therefore we have a common goal to minimize these losses, to do everything we can so that something like this doesn’t happen," Putin stressed. "The new coronavirus stands out because it is a new phenomenon, and the question here is how prepared are we for this challenge. I presume that the government, the Ministry of Health, and Rospotrebnadzor [The Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-Being] will do everything so that any surprises that we do run into don’t become surprises for most of our people, so that everyone is ready."
Putin also noted that a large number of lethal cases have already been registered in China. He reiterated that the government had already developed a number of prevention measures to stop the virus from spreading in Russia. At the meeting, attended by Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko and head of the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-Being Anna Popova, President Putin asked for a report on how the battle against the new virus is unfolding.