Russia orders border with China closed

MOSCOW: Russia has ordered the closure of its land border with China, the country’s prime minister said, as Moscow scrambles to prevent the coronavirus infection spreading from its south-eastern neighbour.

Russia has no confirmed cases of the virus but its government has already put in place measures to ban mass public gatherings.

Large Chinese tour groups have been blocked from entering the country.

“The relevant directive was signed today,” prime minister Mikhail Mishustin said.

“It is being processed. Later today, we will inform everyone about the measures taken to close the border in the far east and other measures taken by the government.

“We must do everything to protect our people.”

Earlier this week three of Russia’s five eastern regions bordering China said they would close land crossings with the country.

At the same time, Russia’s foreign ministry said yesterday it had suspended the issuance of electronic visas for Chinese citizens, who were previously able to use the permits to enter the country in St Petersburg,

Kaliningrad and at multiple crossings in the far east.

Meanwhile, Australia’s government yesterday defended its decision to use a detention centre thousands of kilometres from the mainland to quarantine locals evacuated from Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak in China.

Australia on Wednesday said it would evacuate “isolated and vulnerable” locals from Wuhan as part of a joint operation with New Zealand.

Some health officials have criticised the decision to move those people to Christmas Island — about 2,600km from Australia and which had been used to hold thousands of refugees between 2002 and 2018.

Minister for Home Affairs Peter Dutton said Australia has no other choice.

“The reality is people need to be accommodated for somewhere for up to 14 days. I can’t clear out a hospital in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane,” Mr Dutton told reporters in Canberra.

“I don’t have a facility otherwise that we can quickly accommodate for what might be many hundreds of people.

“Christmas Island is purpose-built for exactly this scenario.”