On May 15, Sakhalin Oblast of the Russian Far East, which effectively controls the Northern Territories, announced that it had confirmed a coronavirus case on Kunashiri Island. This was the first coronavirus case to be confirmed in the Northern Territories. According to the Sakhalin government, the patient is a man from the Republic of Dagestan in the southern part of Russia, who had arrived in the island via Moscow several days earlier. He did not self-quarantine after arrival despite the local government rules and might have spread the virus. The Sakhalin government declared a state of emergency for Kunashiri and Shikotan on May 15 to ban travel to and from the two islands.