RUSSIA: Russia confirmed its first case of SARS yesterday, more than three weeks after the victim went into hospital and amid accusations of a cover-up over the flu-like virus, writes Daniel McLaughlin
Russia's government immediately ordered preparations for the closure of more than 30 crossing-points along its vast frontier with China and Mongolia, even as visiting Chinese President Hu Jintao tried to assure an audience in Moscow that Beijing could control the virus.
The Russian victim, Mr Denis Soinikov (25), went into hospital on May 5th in Blagoveshchensk, a bustling city where hundreds of shuttle traders criss-cross the border between Russia and China every day.
His blood tests were sent to Moscow weeks ago but no results were forthcoming, and in recent days doctors have said they doubted that he had SARS.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta newspaper claimed this week that the World Health Organisation had told Moscow to admit that SARS had entered Russia, a sensitive matter after China, where the virus originated, hid the extent of its own SARS problem.
Russia's chief medical officer, Mr Gennady Onishchenko, denied the charge yesterday, saying the Moscow laboratory had simply been waiting for a proper control sample of SARS with which to compare Mr Soinikov's blood tests.
"I can officially announce that, according to all the laboratory tests, we can confirm the diagnosis [of SARS]," Mr Onishchenko told national television.
"We delayed the announcement because we still had to receive the control."
The admission came at a tricky time for Russia, which is hosting Mr Hu on his first foreign visit and is in the process of welcoming hundreds of officials from SARS-hit countries to St Petersburg's 300th anniversary celebrations.
Mr Hu, on the first leg of a four-nation tour intended to repair the damage done by China's SARS cover-up, told Moscow students that the disease, which has infected more than 8,000 people and killed more than 740 worldwide, would not cause long-term damage to China or the world.
"We can definitely overcome these temporary difficulties and win the war against SARS, while maintaining the pace of economic development and continuing to contribute to the promotion of regional and global economic growth," he said.
Mr Hu and Russian President, Mr Vladimir Putin, pledged on Tuesday to work together to fight SARS.
Moscow has already told Russian airlines to stop selling plane tickets to China, and officials have admitted being concerned about how Russia's ailing health system would cope with a major crisis. Some doctors here have urged their countrymen to trust traditional folk remedies to counter the disease.
Media reports yesterday said that six men in Blagoveshchensk, the city where Mr Soinikov is in hospital, had been treated for alcohol poisoning after drinking litres of vodka as a protection against SARS.