Russia’s Putin self-isolates after being exposed to Kovid-19 in inner circle

Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said he did not know whether sick people on Mr Putin’s crew were vaccinated against COVID-19. Mr. Putin has been vaccinated with Russia’s vaccine, Sputnik V. He received his second dose in April 2021.

“You and I know that the vaccine guarantees protection from serious complications. Nevertheless, cases of infection are still possible,” Mr. Peskov said.

He said Mr Putin would virtually continue his work.

According to state news agency TASS, one of the ill people works “in the immediate vicinity” of Mr Putin and was vaccinated, Mr Putin said during an online meeting with United Russia party leaders and members of the government. .

Mr Putin is one of several world leaders during the pandemic who have had to be quarantined due to exposure to the virus, or have tested positive for Covid-19. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was hospitalized in April 2020 and spent three nights in the intensive care unit after testing positive for the virus. French President Emmanuel Macron tested positive for Covid-19 in December 2020, affecting several leaders who had been in contact with him. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau quarantined for two weeks in March 2020 after his wife tested positive for COVID-19.

Russia had an average of 17,919 new reported Covid-19 cases on Monday, an average of seven days, according to data from Our World in Data, an Oxford University-based project. This is lower than the two months ago average of 24,454.

According to the data in Our World, about 27% of Russians have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. A total of 4.3% of Russians have been partially vaccinated.

Many people in the country are hesitant to get vaccinated against Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine. The Sputnik V vaccine has faced skepticism from both scientists and Western politicians, due to the speed at which it was developed when it was announced last August, and the fact that it was authorized before advanced trials began. . In February, a peer-reviewed study published in the British medical journal Lancet showed that Sputnik V was 91.6% effective in preventing symptomatic COVID-19 and offered complete protection against severe cases.

Officials are working to restart the country’s vaccination campaign, and local authorities in some regions of Russia have made vaccinations mandatory for service sector workers.