MOSCOW, March 14. /TASS/: The Russian government is preparing proposals to mitigate the negative effects of coronavirus, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said at a plenary meeting of the Federation Council.
"The Russian Government is now considering and preparing a set of proposals to neutralize the effects of this negative factor [coronavirus]," Siluanov said.
He previously stated that the consequences of the spread of coronavirus in the world affect the Russian economy, as it is part of the global scene.
Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier that measures taken in advance will allow Russia to partially compensate for the negative processes in the global economy. "The situation in the world is not static. Even if we ignore coronavirus, the situation is subject to various fluctuations and volatility. Before the situation with coronavirus, there were various negative forecasts regarding the global economy, for example, there was a clear tendency to reduce demand for oil and petroleum products," Peskov said.
Peskov added that Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to work hard despite the coronavirus crisis.
Coronavirus pandemic
In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in more than 110 countries, including Russia. Most cases outside of China have been recorded in South Korea, Iran and Italy.
The WHO has declared the outbreak a global pandemic as more than 125,000 people have been infected around the world and about 4,600 have died of it. Russia has so far confirmed 34 coronavirus cases.
