Putin spokesman tests positive for COVID-19

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has been hospitalized with the coronavirus, the latest in a series of setbacks for President Vladimir Putin as the outbreak explodes in Russia.

“Yes, I’ve gotten sick. I’m being treated,” Peskov, a key Putin aide, told the Interfax news agency on Tuesday.

Also infected was Peskov’s wife, Olympic ice dancing champion Tatyana Navka. She told reporters that Peskov’s condition was “satisfactory” and that the couple decided to enter the hospital so as not to expose the rest of their family.

“He brought it (the virus) from work,” Navka was quoted as saying by the Daily Storm online outlet.

Peskov, 52, has been Putin’s spokesman since 2008 but began working with him in the early 2000s.

The Tass news agency quoted Peskov saying he last saw Putin in person “more than a month ago.”

Peskov is not the only top government official to come down with the coronavirus. Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin revealed April 30 that he had tested positive for the virus and Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova said last week she was self-isolating after getting infected.

The announcement of Peskov’s hospitalization came a day after Putin said Russia was slowing the outbreak and announced he was easing some of the nationwide lockdown restrictions.

But health officials reported thousands of new infections, many health care workers are falling ill with the virus amid complaints that protective gear is in short supply, and deadly fires have broken out at two hospitals for virus patients, apparently from defective breathing machines.

Russia has reported more than 232,000 confirmed coronavirus cases – second only to the US – and more than 2,100 virus-related deaths as of Tuesday.