MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s Finance Minister Anton Siluanov is self-isolating, the head of the upper house of parliament said on Tuesday as COVID-19 cases in the country increased and a record daily death toll was recorded.
“We wish you to get well as soon as possible and get out the self-isolation regime,” Valentina Matvienko told Siluanov who joined the budget hearings at the upper house of parliament via a video link.
Matvienko did not explicitly say that Siluanov was self-isolating due to COVID-19, days after President Vladimir Putin ended his two-week self-isolation after dozens of people in his entourage had fallen ill with the novel coronavirus.
The finance ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment on Siluanov’s health.
Russian authorities have repeatedly urged people to get vaccinated, saying it was the only way to stop the spread of the virus and promising not to impose lockdowns.
In the past 24 hours, at least 895 people died from COVID-19 in Russia, the most recorded in a single day since the pandemic began.
(Reporting by Andrey Ostroukh, editing by Ed Osmond)
