24 Mar, 2020 13:19 / Updated 23 minutes ago
Russian President Vladimir Putin traded his usual
shirt and tie for a hazmat suit as he visited patients receiving treatment for
the Covid-19 virus in a Moscow hospital.
Surrounded by hospital staff, Putin climbed into
the yellow hazmat suit and was fitted with a respirator before paying a visit
to patients at the treatment center in the Kommunarka area of Moscow.
© Sputnik / Alexey Druzhinin
The Russian president was also kitted out in a
pair of protective plastic boots and blue gloves before heading into the
higher-risk area of the hospital.
Before his trip to the hospital, Putin held a
meeting with members of Russia's taskforce for combating the Covid-19 outbreak,
which was attended by Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin, Deputy PM Tatyana Golikova
and Health Minister Mikhail Murashko.
It was after that meeting that Putin decided he
wanted to check out the new facility and told colleagues: “Let's go see
Kommunarka."
March 24, 2020. Russian President Vladimir Putin
during a visit to a hospital intended for patients with suspected coronavirus
© Sputnik / Alexey Druzhinin
Putin was accompanied on the tour of the facility
by the hospital's head physician Denis Protsenko. Putin told Protsenko
that he was pleased with how the work was progressing and offered his gratitude
to the team at the hospital.
He said the hospital was well-organized and that
people there "know what to do, how to do it, have everything they
need and can effectively use existing equipment."
© Sputnik / Alexey Druzhinin
Protsenko told Putin there are two possible
scenarios that could play out: either the outbreak follows the Asian script and
subsides quite quickly, or it follows the pattern of the Italian explosion in
cases. He said that as a doctor, it was most important for him to be ready
to face an Italian scenario.
He added that doctors would be happier if Russia's
outbreak followed the path of China's and ended in April or May.
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with
hospital's chief Denis Protsenko during his visit to the hospital for
coronavirus patients © Sputnik / Alexey Druzhinin
By the end of this week, it is estimated that
13,000 Covid-19 tests will have been carried out in Moscow. Sobyanin said that
Moscow will have 5,000 beds available for coronavirus patients within the next
three or four weeks.
Protsenko told Putin that 70 people had been
discharged from the hospital in the last 24 hours, with another 29 admitted.
As of March 24, Russia had recorded 495 confirmed
cases of Covid-19 and no deaths.
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