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Coronavirus pandemic

Moscow officials not considering full shutdown of restaurants and shopping centers

It is recommended to close specific areas in shopping centers: playgrounds, fitness centers, some cinemas, according to the head of the Moscow trade and services department

© Sergei Fadeichev/TASS

MOSCOW, March 24. /TASS/. Moscow officials are not considering a full shutdown of restaurants and shopping centers in the city, head of the Moscow trade and services department Alexei Nemeryuk informed TASS on Tuesday.

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New Moscow hospital for coronavirus patients to be built soon, says mayor

Earlier, it was reported that Moscow restaurants are awaiting recommendations to shut down their businesses due to the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

"A potential full shutdown of restaurants, cafes, cafeterias, and other catering institutions in Moscow is not discussed so far. It is recommended to close specific areas in shopping centers: playgrounds, fitness centers, some cinemas," Nemeryuk said.

A pneumonia outbreak caused by the COVID-19 virus (previously known as 2019-nCoV) was reported in China’s city of Wuhan, a large trade and industrial center with a population of 12 million, in late December 2019. Cases of the new coronavirus have also been reported in more than 150 countries and territories, among them Russia, which by now has documented 438 cases. According to recent data, novel coronavirus cases across the globe have exceeded 350,000, with about 16,000 deaths. The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially described the situation with the novel coronavirus as a pandemic.

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