Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev has tested positive for COVID-19.
Trutnev’s trip to the Far East as part of the visit of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has been postponed so far, according to a media report.
In May, President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov had tested positive for the coronavirus and was receiving treatment in hospital.
Dmitry Peskov is the fourth senior government official to have fallen ill, after Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova and Construction Minister Vladimir Yakushev said they tested positive for the virus.
On Tuesday, Putin announced that Russia has developed the first vaccine offering “sustainable immunity” against Coronavirus.
The announcement comes as reports have been floating that Moscow is all set to register its first COVID-19 vaccine this week despite safety concerns raised from several quarters, including the WHO.
The country has been pushing extensively for virus vaccine for quite some time now before it starts mass vaccination in October.
Meanwhile, Russia had said on August 3 that it aims to launch mass production of a Coronavirus vaccine next month and turn out “several million” doses per month by next year.
Russia has reported 5,102 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking its total to 902,701, the country’s COVID-19 response centre with 15,231deaths so far.