SAINT PETERSBURG, January 23. /TASS/. One more patient was taken to a St. Petersburg hospital over the coronavirus scare, says city Health Committee.

When asked whether the reports about the third case were true, the committee's press service answered with a simple "yes."

Earlier reports disclosed that two people - Russian and Chinese nationals who came from China - were taken to hospital due to coronavirus suspicions. The Russian national was taken directly from the airport, while the Chinese student reportedly came to Russia a week ago.

Earlier on Thursday, the St. Petersburg Health Committee reported that the two patients had shown no signs that would indicate the existence of the coronavirus infection, but added that testing is still underway.

Reports about the hospitalized Russian national appeared Wednesday in a number of Russian regional media outlets and Telegram channels.

Due to the coronavirus outbreak in China, passengers coming from a number of Asian countries have been undergoing thermal imaging checks. Since the early days of the outbreak, the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Wellbeing has set up epidemiology monitoring, ramped up sanitary and quarantine control at the border checkpoints, streamlined a plan of action for medical staff upon encountering suspected infection cases, and ensured the readiness of medical organizations to receive patients coming from at-risk countries.

Coronavirus discovery

On December 31, 2019, the Chinese authorities informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia strain in the city of Wuhan in central China. On January 7, 2020, Chinese specialists identified the 2019-nCoV coronavirus as the culprit. All cases of the suspected pneumonia were lab tested. As a result, infectious agents of such diseases as flu, bird flu, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) were excluded from the list of possible pathogens.

Separate cases of the new pneumonia were registered in Japan, South Korea and Thailand.

Russia’s Health Ministry commenced work on a vaccine and has held talks with Chinese scientists on obtaining the required biological material.