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No agreement reached on China’s handover of coronavirus strain to Russia

Russian Deputy Minister of Health Sergei Kraevoi said on February 4 that the lack of a live coronavirus strain hinders Russia’s search for a vaccine against the disease
Head of the Russian Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare Anna Popova Dmitry Astakhov/Russia's presidential press-service/TASS
Head of the Russian Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare Anna Popova
© Dmitry Astakhov/Russia's presidential press-service/TASS

MOSCOW, February 10. /TASS/. China and Russia have not reached an agreement on the handover of the 2019-nCoV strain, head of the Russian Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare Anna Popova told reporters on Monday.

"So far, such an agreement [on the handover of the 2019-nCoV strain] has not been reached," she told reporters.

Russian Deputy Minister of Health Sergei Kraevoi said on February 4 that the lack of a live coronavirus strain hinders Russia’s search for a vaccine against the disease.

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 virus spread to 24 more countries apart from China - Australia, Belgium, Cambodia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, India, Italy, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States and Vietnam. WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak in China a global health emergency.

Currently, the total number of people infected with coronavirus exceeded 40,200 in China with 909 people reported to have died from the disease. Meanwhile, about 3,300 people are said to have recovered from it.

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