Russia rules out border closures ahead of New Year's holiday

By Emre Gurkan Abay

MOSCOW (AA) - Despite fears over the coronavirus, Russia will not close its borders for the upcoming New Year's holiday, the country's deputy prime minister said on Monday.

Tatyana Golikova told reporters in Moscow that the number of COVID-19 cases in the country may increase after the New Year's holiday.

"By keeping contacts with our regions open, we help them not relax measures and implement the necessary precautions to prevent the spread of the disease," Golikova said.

Stressing that it was impossible for Russia to close its borders again, she said: "We must understand that we cannot completely close our borders due to intense international flights and people planning to go abroad during the upcoming New Year's holiday."

The New Year's holiday in Russia will begin on Dec. 31 and end on Jan. 9.

On Dec. 6, Russia reported its first cases of the omicron coronavirus variant.

Authorities subsequently announced a 14-day quarantine period on people arriving from Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Eswatini, South Africa, and Hong Kong.

On Nov. 26, the World Health Organization declared omicron a "variant of concern."

Since December 2019, the pandemic has claimed over 5.3 million lives in at least 192 countries and regions, with more than 270.31 million cases reported worldwide, according to the US-based Johns Hopkins University.

* Writing by Gozde Bayar