MOSCOW, April 5. /TASS/: Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to continue working remotely for at least one more week, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in an interview with "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin" TV program on Rossiya-1 TV channel.
"A week has passed and I dare suggest that for at least a week or even more [the president will be working remotely]," Peskov said.
Meanwhile, Peskov emphasized that the president’s decision to switch to remote work was not linked to the news that the head doctor of a hospital in Kommunarka, Denis Protsenko, had contracted the virus. Putin met with Protsenko on March 24 when he visited the Moscow clinic specializing in treating the coronavirus. "The case when the head doctor contracted the disease just showed that despite all precaution measures the best and the most effective means is to limit physical contact and this is what the president has done," Peskov explained.
The Kremlin spokesman noted that the president and everyone working with him are regularly tested for the coronavirus.
In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.
On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. To date, more than 1,100,000 people have been infected worldwide and over 60,000 deaths have been reported.
Over the past day, the number of coronavirus cases in Russia has risen by 658 to 5,389 in 79 regions, according to the crisis center. The country’s latest data indicates 45 fatalities and 355 recoveries nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.
