SARS makes Russia lock checkpoints on Chinese, Mongolian frontiers

To keep SARS off Russia, it intends to cut by half the number of checkpoints along the Chinese frontier, and suspend 80% of their analogues on the Mongolian. A total eleven points will close for a time on the Russian-Chinese frontier, and 21 on the Russian-Mongolian, to leave a respective nine and four in action - enough for efficient medical inspection of travellers, say federal government staff experts.

The Russian government is drafting an appropriate resolution to offer it for debate at the nearest Cabinet session, Thursday. The government does not think it will be wise now to suspend all transport links with Southeast Asia. The situation is under control, and available preventive measures promise to be sufficient to bar off the disease, reassure Cabinet PR.