VLADIVOSTOK, February 27. /TASS/. Russian nationals who are in South Korea at the moment, will be able to return home via other countries after March 1, Deputy Prime Minister of Russia’s Far Eastern Primorsky Region Konstantin Shestakov told reporters.

On Wednesday, Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova announced that flights to and from South Korea would be banned starting on March 1 due to the coronavirus outbreak. However, an exception was made for the Russian national air carrier Aeroflot and its subsidiary Aurora.

"Aeroflot will continue to operate flights between Moscow and Seoul and Aurora will carry out charter flights to bring Russians back home from South Korea," Shestakov specified. "In fact, there are a lot of opportunities to access the Primorsky Region, including flights via Tokyo and Singapore," he added.

According to the Association of Tour Operators of Russia, about 1,200 Russian package tourists were in South Korea as of February 26.

The number of coronavirus cases in South Korea has reached 1,261, and 12 patients have died, the country’s authorities said. Most cases have been identified in the city of Daegu and the province of Gyeongsangbuk-do. The WHO declared the outbreak of the novel coronavirus a global health emergency and named the virus COVID-19.

Coronavirus outbreak

In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, central China. Coronavirus cases have been reported in 42 countries and territories, including Russia.

According to Chinese authorities, over 82,180 people have been infected with the virus in the country. The death toll has passed 2,800, while more than 32,900 patients have recovered.