MOSCOW, April 5. /TASS/. About 80% of coronavirus patients in Russia are aged between 18 and 60, Anna Popova, chief of Russia’s sanitary watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said on Sunday.
"Patients older than 60 currently account for about 15%, 5% of cases are children, and 80% are patients aged from 18 to 60. Not because they are more susceptible to the disease than elsewhere in the world. But because the biggest number of people returning from abroad fall into this age category," she said in an interview with the Vecher s Solovyovym (Evening with Solovyov) program on the Rossiya-1 television channel.
According to Popova, all those arriving in Russia from foreign countries will be tested for coronavirus, but in the isolation regime. "Our experience shows, and we have done a lot of research, that after a flight - and our colleagues from foreign countries also say that - the condition of human mucous membranes changes, so, when a person leaves a plane it is much more difficult to detect the infecting agent. So, he or she is to be placed in isolation and be examined some time later," she explained.
She said that it would be enough to cover the face as a protection against the novel coronavirus, with no need to use high-protective respirators. In her words, people with different professional risks need different face masks. "Infection disease doctors need respirators ensuring total isolation. As for those working at a food store or the like, it will depend on the degree of contacts and infection risks. They need other types of masks," she said.
"We need no masks when we are at home. But when we go outside, we need to cover the nose and mouth," she added.