Chinese Woman Dies in Khabarovsk

Atypical pneumonia suspected
A Chinese woman died from an unidentified acute infection in an isolation hospital of the Russian city of Khabarovsk. ITAR-TASS news agency reports that the woman was taken to the hospital right from an international flight that force-landed in the city when the passenger lost consciousness right in the plane.

Reanimation measures were taken on the way to the hospital, but brought no results. Doctors say the patient was doomed to death and died before she regained consciousness; at that, her respiratory deficiency increased and the condition was grave.

In connection with the tragic death, measures have been taken in Khabarovsk because of the atypical pneumonia menace. The chief sanitary officer of the Khabarovsk Region Rita Liberova says that the menace of infection is real; measures have been taken to resist the infection and avert hysteria among the population. It is important that this year the border will not be closed to prevent the epidemic like last year.

The chief sanitary officer of the region says an official statement on the cause of the woman's death will be issued in the nearest days. RIA Novosti learnt at the State Sanitary and Epidemic Control Center of the Khabarovsk Region that the laboratory for atypical pneumonia is working to determine the virus that caused the woman’s death. The laboratory confirms that the Chinese woman died a week ago. The Chinese Consulate General in Khabarovsk let relatives of the woman to take the dead body late on January 8.

The airport of Khabarovsk performs flights to China every week. But ITAR-TASS reports that there is no thermal imager at the airport to fix the temperature of arriving passengers. There is only one device of this kind at the customs of Blagoveshchensk.