MOSCOW, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Russian authorities are taking further urgent steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19, official documents showed Tuesday.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin instructed the justice, interior and economic development ministries to submit proposals by Wednesday and draft tougher punishments for quarantine violations.

Mishustin tasked the Federal Service for Surveillance on Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-Being (Rospotrebnadzor) and Moscow authorities with making a plan for the quick establishment of COVID-19 testing labs.

The prime minister asked the country's health ministry and Rospotrebnadzor to approve by Wednesday guidelines for the public to better detect and prevent the spread of COVID-19.

He also instructed the Federal Antimonopoly Service and the country's communications ministry to check whether mobile operators have raised charges, thus profiting from people forced to work at home.

Some 57,800 Russian tourists traveling through booked tours are abroad and all of them will return home by the end of this month, the Russian Federal Agency for Tourism said in a statement released Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said he hoped that the construction of a new hospital for COVID-19 patients with 500 beds in the outskirts of Moscow would be completed soon. Enditem

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