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Coronavirus pandemic

Coronavirus situation still unstable for trips abroad - expert

Aleksandr Gorelov stressed that what the epidemiological situation will be after the May holidays depends on citizens' compliance with sanitary rules and active vaccination against coronavirus

MOSCOW, April 24. /TASS/. The epidemiological situation with coronavirus is unstable, so now is not the best time for tourist trips abroad, Deputy Director for Research, Central Research Institute of Epidemiology at the Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-Being Aleksandr Gorelov told TASS.

"Since the epidemiological situation is unstable, now is not the best time for holidays abroad," he said.

Gorelov stressed that what the epidemiological situation will be after the May holidays depends on citizens' compliance with sanitary rules and active vaccination against coronavirus.

Earlier on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a video conference with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova and the head of consumer rights watchdog Anna Popova, supported the proposal to make the days between the May holidays non-working.

Russia was the first in the world to register coronavirus vaccine on August 11, 2020, called Sputnik V. The drug was developed by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology. Sputnik V is a vector vaccine based on the human adenovirus.

In late December 2019, Chinese officials informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia. On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.

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