MOSCOW, March 13. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to work hard despite the coronavirus crisis, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Friday.
"The president is working at full throttle, as always," he said. "All the necessary measures are being taken to protect the president from seasonal illnesses and other diseases," Peskov added.
When asked if Putin had been tested for coronavirus, the presidential spokesman said that he had no information on the matter. "Details about the president’s health are not meant to be made public," he pointed out.
According to Peskov, when addressing the State Duma (the lower house of parliament) on March 10, Putin had no close contact with lawmaker Sergei Katasonov who had ignored coronavirus quarantine after returning from France.
At the same time, Peskov highlighted the need for everyone to "take basic measures, in terms of personal hygiene, as well as preventing measures, and show respect for one’s fellow workers, because we often continue to go to work when we have a running nose and cough." "In such a situation it is better to pay heightened attention to these things," he said.
Coronavirus pandemic
In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus — named COVID-19 by the WHO — have been reported in more than 120 countries and territories, including Russia. Most cases outside of China have been recorded in South Korea, Iran and Italy.
The WHO has declared the outbreak a global pandemic as more than 125,000 people have been infected around the world and about 4,600 have died of it. Russia has so far confirmed 34 coronavirus cases.