China ‘scare’ in Moscow

“Conducting raids is an unpleasant task, but it is necessary for the potential carriers of the virus as well,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said

Since the outbreak of the new virus that has infected more than 76,000 people and killed more than 2,300 in mainland China, Russia has reported two cases.

Both patients, Chinese nationals hospitalised in Siberia, recovered quickly.

Russian authorities nevertheless are going to significant some argue discriminatory lengths to keep the virus from resurfacing and spreading.

Moscow officials ordered police raids of hotels, dormitories, apartment buildings and businesses to track down the shrinking number of Chinese people remaining in the city.

They also authorised the use of facial recognition technology to find those suspected of evading a 14-day self-quarantine period upon their arrival in Russia.

“Conducting raids is an unpleasant task, but it is necessary, for the potential carriers of the virus as well,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in a statement outlining various methods to find and track Chinese people the city approved as a virus prevention strategy.

The effort to identify Chinese citizens on public transportation applies not only to buses, but underground trains and street trams in Moscow, Russian media reported Wednesday.

Meanwhile, A cruise ship passenger who had been hospitalized after testing positive for the new virus died on Sunday, the third fatality from the Diamond Princess, Japan's health ministry said.