Coronavirus: Russia grounds foreign flights

The Kremlin has ordered the civil aviation authority to suspend all regular and charter flights to and from Russia from Friday.

Vladimir Putin addresses the nation over the coronavirus outbreak. Picture: AFP

The Kremlin has ­ordered the civil aviation authority to suspend all regular and charter flights to and from Russia from Friday, the government says on its website.

Russian airlines will still be ­allowed to fly to other countries to bring Russian citizens back or if they are authorised by special government decisions

The move came after Russian President Vladimir Putin postponed a country-wide vote on proposed constitutional amendments that include a change that would allow him to seek another term.

Mr Putin didn’t set a new date for the plebiscite originally set for April 22, saying that it would ­depend on how the coronavirus pandemic developed.

He also announced during a televised address that the government didn’t want Russians ­except those employed in essential sectors to go to work next week. He said that stores, pharmacies and banks would stay open.

“Health, life and safety of the people is an absolute priority for us,” Mr Putin said.

Under current law, Mr Putin wouldn’t be able to run for president again in 2024 because of term limits. A new measure would reset his term count, allowing him to run for two more six-year terms if he chose. The 67-year has been in power since 2000, longer than any other ruler since Stalin.

Russian authorities reported 163 more virus cases on Wednesday since the day before, bringing the country’s total to 658 and four deaths. That marked a significantly bigger daily increase from previous days, when the number of new infections grew by only several dozens. Russia’s low caseload given its size and shared border with China has raised doubts in some quarters. Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin told Mr Putin on Tuesday that the low number of cases in Russia could reflect insufficient screening rather than the actual scale of the epidemic and said the situation was “serious”.

Reuters, AP