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Ten Russian lawmakers quarantined over coronavirus

The lawmakers, including from the ruling United Russia party, contacted with an MP from the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Sergey Katasonov, who had ignored coronavirus quarantine after returning from France

MOSCOW, March 17. /TASS/. Several MPs of Russia’s lower house of parliament have been quarantined over the coronavirus threat, State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said on Tuesday.

According to the head of the State Duma’s committee on control and regulations, Olga Savastyanova, ten MPs have been quarantined.

The lawmakers, including from the ruling United Russia party, contacted with an MP from the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Sergey Katasonov, who had ignored coronavirus quarantine after returning from France. Later, Katasonov said he had tested negative for the novel coronavirus.

"Some our MPs have been quarantined due to the fault of our colleague [Sergey Katasonov - TASS], who ignored the rules," Volodin told a plenary meeting. In view of this, some MPs from the LDPR faction and the United Russia party, who were in direct contact with him, have been forced to self-quarantine.

The outbreak of a disease caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was registered in central China in late December 2019. The World Health Organization recognized the situation with the novel coronavirus as a pandemic on March 11. Outside China, the worst affected countries are Italy, South Korea and Iran. Overall, more than 130 countries, including Russia, have reported confirmed coronavirus cases. According to the latest data analyzed by TASS the novel coronavirus cases globally have exceeded 180,000, with over 7,000 deaths. According to the anti-coronavirus task force, 93 coronavirus cases have been registered in Russia.

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