Donetsk, Apr 1 – DAN. All DPR residents who were on vacations abroad have returned to the Republic as COVID-19 began to spread around the globe, the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Tourism said.
"Thanks to the joint effective efforts of the DPR Head Administration and the Government all tourists, individual and on organized tours, have returned to the DPR where they permanently reside," the statement reads.
Complications began when tourists travelling with Ukrainian passports found out they could not enter Russia as it closed its borders on March 18 to fight the COVID-19 spread. The DPR has collected information on its travelling residents and asked Russia for the transit permits.
"Russia has amended the travel ban order to allow Ukrainian citizens and stateless persons residing in the DPR and LPR to return home if they have official registration in the Republics," the Ministry said.
All the tourists are under medical surveillance and under 14-days quarantine.
On March 31, the DPR recorded the first COVID-19 case confirmed by a testing laboratory.
On March 14, the DPR went on high alert in connection with the threat of the coronavirus infection
Latest reports said that there were some 870,000 COVID-19 cases across the world; some 43,000 people have died. The countries with the largest COVID-19 death toll are Italy, Spain and the United States.*ot