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Kremlin spokesman slams ‘insane’ coronavirus deniers

Dmitry Peskov noted that the year 2020 cannot be called an ordinary year
Russian president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov Michael Metzel/TASS
Russian president’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov
© Michael Metzel/TASS

MOSCOW, July 12. /TASS/. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov lambasted those who deny the threat of the novel coronavirus infection on Sunday as being simply insane.
"I’ll say this much, they [people who deny the existence of the coronavirus infection] are know-nothings, or even insane in the worst case.

This disease does exist and it is an uncharacteristic disease, even horrifying at times," he said in an interview with the Moscow. Kremlin. Putin program on the Rossiya-1 television channel.

He noted that 2020 stood out and could not be called an ordinary year at all. "Back when we were ringing in the year 2020, we wished each other all the best, we wished [each other] a Happy New Year and could not even have imagined what sorts of things this year was going to bring," he said, adding that the current generation has never come up against pandemics.

The pandemic, in his words, has impacted Russia "adding crisis phenomena stemming not only from domestic but also from the worldwide crisis, first and foremost, linked to health dangers."

"[Russian President Vladimir] Putin has always put people’s health above all, that is why when the global threat had emerged, it was necessary to take swift measures to help the public health system cope with this threat to people’s lives. And it was necessary to do it across the entire country, the biggest one in the world," he said.

"The economy was immediately mobilized to manufacture individual protective gear, lung ventilators, various sanitizers," he recalled. "It may now look like mere statistics but let us not underestimate the colossal work that was done."

Speaking about treatment techniques, Peskov, who was also taken to hospital with the coronavirus infection in May, noted that Russian doctors know much about the disease. "They have learned to save lives, to cure the most serious symptoms of this disease. They have learned to combat it efficiently," he stressed.

According to the Kremlin spokesman, the president has also learned a lot about the coronavirus infection. "During crises, Putin always becomes a specialist," he noted. "Putin is always guided by the opinions of specialists when wording his point of view. His viewpoint always rests on a scientific, expert approach. He never yields to emotions when making conclusions."

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. According to the latest statistics, over 12.7 million people have been infected worldwide and some 565,000 deaths have been reported.

To date, 727,162 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 501,061 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 11,335 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.