A
senior virologist warned on Tuesday that the swine flu outbreak could reach
Russia in a week and said the risk of a global pandemic was "very high."
But passengers greeted by mask-wearing health officials at Moscow's Sheremetyevo
Airport brushed off concerns about swine flu, which has been linked to 149
deaths in Mexico and has been confirmed in the United States, Canada, Scotland,
Spain and New Zealand.
The Agriculture Ministry expanded a ban on raw meat imports from the United
States on Tuesday to include meat products carried in passengers' carry-on
luggage and food served on planes and ships.
No cases have been reported in Russia. A Russian woman who recently visited
Mexico was hospitalized in Moscow on Monday night, but doctors said Tuesday that
she did not have the swine flu virus.
"The risk of a pandemic in the world is very high. It could reach Russia in a
week," Dmitry Lvov, head of the Institute of Virology at the Russian Academy of
Sciences, said at a news conference.
No
vaccine is available for the virus, with scientists saying the earliest one will
be ready will be in the fall. Lvov said people could protect themselves in the
meantime by taking anti-viral drugs like Tamiflu.
"We should have masks everywhere. I would advise against participating in large
events and would also advise taking anti-viral medicines ... as a preventive
step," he said.
Lvov, however, criticized airport checks and meat bans as ways of preventing
swine flu from reaching Russia.
The World Health Organization -- which raised its alert level for swine flu by a
notch Monday to indicate that the virus is capable of significant human-to-human
transmission -- said Tuesday that it was not recommending travel restrictions
and border closures. Infected people may not show symptoms at the airport, so
travel limitations are ineffective, WHO spokesman Gregory Hartl told reporters
in Geneva, Reuters reported. "Border controls don't work. Screening doesn't
work," he said.
At Sheremetyevo Airport, health officials wearing white cloaks and face masks
met passengers arriving on an Aeroflot flight from New York on Tuesday
afternoon.
A "visual control" has been set up on board all flights landing in Sheremetyevo,
said Artur Bunin, the chief doctor for the airport.
"A flight from New York to Moscow takes about 11 hours. During this time, our
well-trained plane staff are able to detect an infected passenger on board,"
Bunin told reporters in the airport's arrival hall.
Airport custom officers could be seen through the gateway glass wearing face
masks, too.
"We are fearful because we are very serious about this," Bunin said.
Passengers, however, seemed unconcerned about the virus, and several said they
hadn't noticed any officials wearing masks at other airports.
Timur Uzbekov, who arrived from New York, was the only passenger who could be
seen wearing a mask at Sheremetyevo on Tuesday afternoon.
"I just thought it would be safer," Uzbekov said. "I went from Los Angeles to
New York and expected see panic and people in masks but didn't notice anything
like that."
He said he had not experienced any additional hassle at Sheremetyevo other than
"some people in white asked what kind of food passengers were carrying in their
bags."
Passengers arriving from Europe were smiling and relaxed. A few on a plane from
Athens said they had not heard about swine flu. "Can you see a swine here?" they
joked when approached by a group of reporters.
The Federal Consumer Protection Service asked travel agencies on Tuesday to
alert people planning trips to the Americas about the "possible risk of
contacting the flu-like disease," Interfax reported.
Meat products will be more thoroughly checked at Moscow's markets, said the
city's veterinary committee, Interfax reported. Uncooked meat from Mexico and
the United States will be isolated, the committee said.
The Agriculture Ministry's health watchdog widened the ban on raw meat imports
from some U.S. states and Mexico, prompting a protest by the U.S. Embassy, which
said there was no reason for the restrictions because the virus spreads from
person to person, not from meat. "We look forward to a quick resumption of
normal meat trade with Russia," the embassy said in a statement.
"It's an understandable reaction but an overreaction by Russia," said Andrew
Somers, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Russia. "But Russia is
not acting out of the ordinary."
The European Union said Tuesday that it would not restrict imports of U.S. meat.
"We have no plans to ban any meat, pork or food products from the U.S. since
there is no connection between food and the flu at present, and such a move
would be unjust," a European Commission official told Reuters.
