ussian President Putin said Thursday that dozens of individuals in his entourage tested positive for the coronavirus before he went into self-isolation earlier in the week .
The Russian leader, who announced in March he had been vaccinated, started self-isolating on Tuesday after being identified as a coronavirus contact.
“You know that unfortunately I had to cancel my visit to Dushanbe at the last moment,” Putin said during remarks to a gathering of the Moscow-led peace Treaty Organisation (CSTO), hosted within the capital of Tajikistan. “I am very sorry, but this is often thanks to the very fact that, as you recognize , cases of the coronavirus were detected in my clique ,” he said, speaking via video link.
“Not only one or two but several dozen people,” he added. The 68-year-old Russian leader laid out in late June that he had been vaccinated with Russia’s homegrown Sputnik V after months of secrecy round the issue, but the Kremlin didn’t show images of the inoculation.
Putin in recent months has resumed his work trips and face-to-face meetings, but many of his contacts are still required to spend fortnight in quarantine. Russia is among the countries hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic with the fifth-highest number of recorded cases consistent with an AFP tally and has struggled to rein in infections despite quick access to vaccines.
Authorities have struggled with a vaccine-skeptic population, with independent polls showing that a majority of Russians don’t decide to be inoculated.