Russia on Tuesday announced that it would ban all Chinese citizens from entering its territory effective February 20, 2020 amid COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, the local news agencies said.

The ban will be applied to those travelling for employment, educational and tourist reasons,but the ban will not likely affect the transit passengers. Russia is a preferred destination among Chinese nationals, who visit either as tourists or live there for work or study.

It was announced by the office of the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Tatyana Golikova, that the passage of Chinese citizens across the Russian border would be temporarily suspended from 00:00 local time.

As of now Russia has had two confirmed cases of the Coronavirus, both Chinese citizens who have been hospitalised in Siberia.

This is the strongest measure taken to prevent the entry and spread of the new coronavirus in Russia.Earlier Russia has halted visa-free entry for Chinese tour groups.Also Russian Railways suspended all passenger traffic to and from China, and flights have been heavily restricted. China has already closed its 4,250km (2,650 mile) border with China.