Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has closed visa-free entry for Chinese tourists
Visa-free exchange of tourist groups between Russia and China Against the background of the coronavirus epidemic, Russian Prime Minister Mishustin temporarily stopped visa-free travel of Chinese tourist groups under the intergovernmental agreement of February 29, 2000.
In order to ensure state security, protect public health and prevent the spread of the new coronavirus infection (2019-nCoV) on the territory of the Russian Federation:
Temporarily suspend visa-free tourist trips provided for by the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the People's Republic of China on visa-free group tourist trips of February 29, 2000.
From 00 hours 00 minutes local time on February 2, 2020, the FSB of Russia will ensure the implementation of paragraph 1 of this order.
Yuri Turcan, Chairman of the Association for the Promotion of Russian-Chinese Tourism (ASTCT), called this order a correct and timely set of restrictive measures aimed at preventing the penetration of a viral infection into our country.
As an example of the responsible approach of the authorities, the expert cited a very recent case of controlling a group of tourists from the PRC who entered Russia through the Lotta checkpoint on January 30, even before the order. “This border crossing point with Finland is located in the depths of the Karelian forests more than 200 km from major settlements. Where is China and where is Finland? But even there, all measures were taken to identify potential carriers of the virus, the staff working with the group had the necessary means of protection, the bus was in a separate parking lot. Rospotrebnazor found out each tourist’s place of residence in China and the route of the trip, the temperature was measured using thermal imagers, the composition of the group was specified <...> having made sure that there were no adverse factors, the competent authorities gave permission to enter.
In the United States and Israel closed the border not only for the Chinese themselves, but also for everyone who visited China.
Source: tourprom