Photo: Sputnik / Mikhail Klimentyev

 
Russian President Vladimir Putin is not attending large gatherings due to the coronavirus outbreak, and everyone who is meeting with him is tested for COVID-19 regularly, as well as the president himself, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, commenting on Putin's handshakes with officials at a recent meeting.

"He does not attend public places and does not meet big crowds of people. All precautions are being implemented", Peskov told reporters, confirming that Putin had come to the Kremlin from his residence for this meeting.
Peskov also said that the president was testing for the coronavirus "as regularly as his doctor thinks he should".

"We have said that the president continues personal meetings with few people. Those who take part in such meetings are undergoing thorough medical examination and are tested beforehand ... This is also true for the participants of yesterday's meeting. As for the handshakes with the president, these people have been examined thoroughly", Peskov added.
On Monday, Putin held a personal meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev, serving as the presidential envoy to the Far Easter federal district, and Andrey Kozkov, the head of the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic.

Two weeks ago, the Russian president visited the designated COVID-19 hospital in the southern Moscow district of Kommunarka and met with its chief doctor, Denis Protsenko. A week later, Protsenko confirmed testing positive for the coronavirus.

Russia has registered 7,497 cases of the coronavirus infection as of 7 April, 10:30 a.m. Moscow time. Some 58 people have succumbed to the disease.

On 2 April, Putin ordered that the initially week-long coronavirus-related nationwide paid leave be extended throughout the entire month of April.