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Second plane with 64 tourists departs from Wuhan for Russia — defense ministry

The Russian Defense Ministry said that "there are 64 people with personal possessions on board the Russian military-transport plane"

MOSCOW, February 5. /TASS/. The second Russian Aerospace Forces' plane has departed from the Chinese city of Wuhan to Russia with Russian citizens onboard, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday.

"There are 64 people with personal possessions on board the Russian military-transport plane," the ministry said.

The Russian Defense Ministry added that citizens are accompanied by military doctors and specialists.

Earlier on Tuesday, the first plane of the Russian Aerospace Forces left Wuhan for Russia with 80 passengers on board.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Tatyna Golikova said that military planes will deliver Russian citizens to Tyumen region from the Chinese province of Hubei, which became the epicenter of the new coronavirus outbreak. According to Golikova, 147 people will be evacuated to Russia from China, including 10 Belarusian citizens, three citizens of Kazakhstan, one citizen of Armenia and one Ukrainian citizen.

On December 31, 2019, Chinese authorities informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about an outbreak of an unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, a large trade and industrial center in central China populated by 11 million people. On January 7, Chinese experts identified the infecting agent: coronavirus 2019-nCoV.

According to latest reports, over 20,400 people were infected with the new coronavirus in China, and the death toll surpassed 420.

Cases of the new coronavirus were also confirmed in 24 other countries, including Russia. The WHO declared the new coronavirus outbreak an international public health emergency.