The Russian Prime Minister has signed an order to close the country’s far east border with China. Mikhail Mishustin approved plans to immediately close the 2,700 mile strip, after President Vladimir Putin ordered officials to do everything possible to prevent the spread of the new disease.

He told his cabinet: ‘We’ll inform everyone today about the border-closure measures in the Far East region and other activities taken by the Russian government [on coronavirus prevention]’. The drastic measure comes amid mounting panic over the pneumonia-like flu, which has rapidly spread to over 15 countries world-wide.

India and the Philippines are the latest nations to reveal they have had cases of the deadly disease, along with Japan, Thailand, Germany, Canada and the US. Chinese authorities revealed on Thursday morning that the number of recorded infections of the virus now exceeds 7,700 globally, with at least 170 people dead.

In response to the rising death toll, Russia’s Foreign Ministry suspended the issuing of electronic visas to Chinese nationals.

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The country has not had any confirmed cases of the new virus, but there have been numerous scares. Russia has direct daily flights to several Chinese cities and last year attracted 2 million Chinese tourists. Earlier this week, airport security blocked Chinese tourist groups from entering the country.

In Moscow, authorities put in place special safety measures at hotels and tourist sites to prevent the killer virus from spreading and travel companies have suspended holiday packages to China.

Major airlines around the world have cancelled flights to Beijing, China, and Hubei – the region at the epicentre of the outbreak. The coronavirus is thought to have emerged from a seafood market in Hubei’s capital Wuhan, where animals were being traded illegally.

20 cities are on lock-down in the province, isolating some 50 million people in a sweeping measure to control the disease. Foreign nationals living in the province have been evacuated and put into quarantine by their home nations  to stop the epidemic’s spread.