Russian President Vladimir Putin traded his usual shirt and tie for protective gear as he visited patients receiving treatment for the Covid-19 virus in a Moscow hospital.
Surrounded by hospital staff, Putin climbed into a 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.
He 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, 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.
Following the meeting Putin decided he wanted to check out the new facility and told colleagues: “Let's go see Kommunarka."
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."
Protsenko told Putin there are two possible scenarios that could play out: either the outbreak follows the Asian pattern and subsides quite quickly, or it mimics the Italian explosion in cases. He said that as a doctor, it was most important for him to be ready to face the latter scenario.
He added that medics would be happier if Russia's outbreak followed the path of China's and ended in April or May.
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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