Russia shuts land borders to Norway, Poland amid coronavirus scare

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has announced on March 14 that the country has shut down its land borders to Poland, Norway to foreigners amid the unprecedented outbreak of deadly coronavirus. Moreover, Moscow has already limited its air travel starting from March 16 including flights to and from European Union member states with some exceptions. In addendum to the emergency measures by the Russian Federation, authorities have already issued a temporary ban on issuing visas to Italian nationals except for certain diplomats which came into effect on March 13.

Many countries have resorted to the sealing of borders to contain the spread of COVID-19 including Pakistan, Denmark, Poland, and Czechs as the battle with coronavirus becomes more intense. Currently, Russia has not reported any deaths but has at least 45 confirmed cases of COVID-19 while the global death toll has soared to 5,441. 

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Global pandemic 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the coronavirus as a global pandemic after the virus spread to more than 140 countries, resulting in the deaths of more than 5,400 people worldwide. WHO chief Tedros Adhanom further even urged all nations to get very serious over the issue and take all necessary measures to contain the virus from spreading at this rate. Tedros said, that the word 'Pandemic' cannot be used lightly or carelessly due to its strong connotation. 

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However, Tedros also said that the coronavirus outbreak is a "controllable pandemic". According to a statement released by the World Health Organisation, Tedros outlined two main reasons as to why the decision was taken to describe the epidemic as a pandemic. Tedros said that one reason was the speed and scale of transmission and the others was because 'countries are not approaching this threat with the level of political commitment needed to control it'.

First detected in the city of Wuhan, in Hubei Province of China, the virus outbreak has disrupted many lives since December 2019. As per reports, the total number of confirmed cases within China has reportedly hit 80,824 and more than one lakh worldwide. According to reports, the death toll in China has also surpassed 3,100 and the National Health Commission also confirmed more than 11 new cases. The death toll due to the deadly virus across the world also mounted to over 5,400.

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(With agency inputs)