REUTERS

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on Ukrainians to engage in domestic tourism amid the global spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-2019.

"Stay in Ukraine for a while, it's very important. Now is the time when you may engage in tourism within our country. You see that even in comparison with many European countries, we have the lowest number of such [coronavirus] cases, and we control it," he said at a meeting with Ukrainian and foreign evacuees from China who were discharged from a health center in Novi Sanzhary, Poltava region, on March 5 after 14-day observation.

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"I think we've got a beautiful country, and we have a lot of wonderful cities and places where one can spend some time on a normal holiday while this viral story is over, and it will be over for sure," he added.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the Chinese authorities reported an outbreak of pneumonia of unknown origin in Wuhan late in December 2019.

The causative agent of the disease was a new type of coronavirus, COVID-19. The virus is transmitted from person to person, with the incubation period lasting at least two weeks.

A plane with 45 Ukrainians and 27 foreigners evacuated from China's Wuhan amid the outbreak of the COVID-19 coronavirus arrived in Ukraine on February 20. The evacuees were then bussed to the town of Novi Sanzhary in Poltava region and accommodated at a local medical center for 14-day observation, which was over on March 5.