Denis Protsenko, who works as chief medical officer at a hospital in Kommunarka, where the Moscow patients with COVID-19 are brought, has been diagnosed with coronavirus, Russia 24 TV reported with reference to the hospital staff.
Later Doctor Protsenko wrote on his Facebook page that his test for coronavirus was positive:
“Dear friends, I am very touched by your concern. Yes, I have been tested positive for CoV, but I feel quite well. I’m isolated in my office, which has all the facilities for remote work, management and telemedicine consultation. I think the immunity I’ve developed this month is doing its job…”
According to his colleagues, Dr Protsenko is in satisfactory condition and is in the hospital, which he heads. There he intends to continue working remotely. It was Denis Protsenko who published daily summaries of patients with “extra-hospital pneumonia”, and then with COVID-19, who were admitted to the hospital since early March. It is not known when the doctor himself was infected.
On 24 March Vladimir Putin visited hospital No. 40 in Kommunarka. There he met with Protsenko, who took him to the wards. Later, presidential spokesman Dmitriy Peskov said that the president was regularly checked for coronavirus and there was no reason to worry yet. However, before the news of Protsenko’s illness, Peskov also claimed that everyone who meets with Vladimir Putin is checked for coronavirus in advance.
The last time the Russian president appeared in public was on March 25 during his address, all other statements were made by Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, former and current prime ministers Dmitry Medvedev and Mikhail Mishustin.
