MOSCOW, February 5. /TASS/. Specialists of the Russian Ministry of Health and the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-Being (Rospotrebnadzor) have arrived in China to exchange information on the novel coronavirus outbreak, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said on Wednesday at a meeting with Cabinet members chaired by President Vladimir Putin.

"Today, our specialists from Rospotrebnadzor and the Ministry of Health, a total of six people, arrived in China to discuss the coronavirus infection issue with our counterparts, assess the situation, understand what is happening and what additional measures we could take to protect our citizens," she said.

On December 31, 2019, Chinese authorities informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about an outbreak of an unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, a large economic and industrial metropolis in central China populated by 11 million people. On January 7, 2020, Chinese experts identified the infecting agent: coronavirus 2019-nCoV.

Cases of the new coronavirus were also confirmed in 24 other countries, including Russia. On January 30, the World Health Organization declared the new coronavirus outbreak an international public health emergency.

According to the latest data, the number of people infected with novel coronavirus pneumonia in China exceeded 24,300 people, more than 490 people died, and over 900 others recovered.

A number of countries, including Russia, evacuated their citizens from China’s Hubei province. On February 5, 144 people, including citizens of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, were transported to Russia’s Tyumen Region.