Mongolia has closed a number of border crossings with Russia and extended an emergency lockdown to December 1 to combat local transmission of coronavirus.
The road crossings at Tes, Artssuuri, Hankh, Ulkhan and Ereentsav have all closed for the remainder of 2020, whilst the crossing at Borsho will close on 23 November until April next year.
The western Tsagaannuur crossing will start operating in the second and fourth weeks of each month. Only fuel trucks will be allowed to cross.
Truck transport through Altan-Bulak has been stopped until January 18.
The National Emergency Management Agency announced the closures yesterday.
It also announced an extension on the lockdown underway in Ulaanbaatar until December 1st, citing on-going efforts to keep the local outbreak under control.
"The Ministry of Health and the Council of Scientists have decided to extend the quarantine for 14 days to complete ongoing surveillance work, identify further incidental infections and conduct extensive testing," the agency said.
A press briefing at the Ministry of Health yesterday revealed three new cases, including one in Selenge aimag, which is where one of the two local clusters was detected last week. The other two cases were a citizen returning on a charter flight from Hungary, and a nurse.
Mongolia has recorded just 431 cases of the coronavirus since the pandemic began.
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