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A Russia-Japanese testing system, EMG, promises test results in a half-hour. If true, the tests could allow some passengers to avoid quarantines.

Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), is undertaking a pilot project to create coronavirus-free airport hubs in three countries, its Chief Executive Kirill Dmitriev said on Tuesday.

A number of countries are re-opening international travel, trying to rebuild their economies hit by prolonged lockdowns. Russia may restart international flights from July 15, a senior official said last week.

“Because the cost of testing represents a tiny fraction of potential economic losses, we are currently undertaking pilot projects in three countries to create virus-free airport hubs that would allow tourism activity to safely resume,” Dmitriev said in an opinion piece in Newsweek Magazine.

With nearly 740,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, Russia has developed its own testing systems and is working on a number of anti-coronavirus drugs. RDIF is focusing on its drug Avifavir, known in Japan, where it was first developed, as Avigan.

Dmitriev said that Avifavir was bought by Columbia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and a number of other countries, so RDIF and its partner, ChemRar, have increased production to 300,000 courses per month, or nearly threefold.

More than 100 vaccines are being developed and tested around the world to stop the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Gamaleya Institute in Russia has begun human trials of its own experimental vaccine.

It hopes to start its final stage testing in mid-August. RDIF and its Russian partners have initially planned to produce the vaccine at home.

“By producing this vaccine through manufacturing partnerships in several countries, we will be able to ramp up production to 200 million doses by year’s end,” Dmitriev said without providing other details.

(Reporting by Katya Golubkova, editing by Louise Heavens)

Copyright (2020) Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions

This article was from Reuters and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected].

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Tags: airports, coronavirus, coronavirus recovery, russia

Photo credit: Passengers of a flight from Amsterdam wearing protective face masks arrive at the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport, following the easing of measures against the spread of coronavirus disease, in Athens, Greece, June 15, 2020. Alkis Konstantinidis / Reuters

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