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Coronavirus pandemic

Moscow won’t introduce curfew due to COVID-19, task force says

There are 147 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Russia as of March 18

© Sergei Savostyanov/TASS

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WHO says Russia prepares for coronavirus spread ‘well’

MOSCOW, March 19. /TASS/. Moscow officials do not plan to introduce a curfew in the city to combat the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), Moscow’s coronavirus task force reported on Thursday, disproving media reports.

"The task force on controlling and monitoring the coronavirus situation in Moscow informs that the reports claiming that Moscow will introduce a curfew are false. We ask you to only trust official sources of information," the task force stated.

Earlier, a copy of the document allegedly signed by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu appeared on social networks, which claimed that a curfew would be introduced in Moscow starting March 30.

The Russian Defense Ministry dismissed the reports as false in a statement on Wednesday, claiming that this fake report may have been created by "representatives of one of the neighboring states."

In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about an outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, central China. On March 11, WHO officially characterized the situation with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) as a pandemic. The disease has spread to over 140 countries. According to latest reports, over 210,000 people have been infected with the virus globally, and about 8,500 have died. There are 147 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Russia as of March 18.

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