Russian President Vladimir Putin is no longer shaking hands, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, after a top doctor with whom he met last week, tested positive for the coronavirus.
“Everyone maintains social distancing now,’’ Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov said in comments carried by state news agency, TASS.
State media reported the previous day that Russia’s top doctor for coronavirus cases, Denis Protsenko, had tested positive.
Protsenko heads the coronavirus treatment facility at Moscow’s Kommunarka hospital.
Moscow, Russia’s capital and largest city, has had the most recorded cases in the country.
Putin shook hands with Protsenko as they met at the facility last week to discuss how it has coped with the influx of patients.
Peskov said on Tuesday that the president is regularly tested for the virus and is healthy.
Russia has reported about 2,700 cases of the new coronavirus, with senior officials expressing concern that the actual number could be much higher.
Lockdown quarantine measures have been imposed in regions throughout the country and the national parliament has passed legislation to enable a state of emergency to be declared if necessary due to the outbreak.
