Chief doctor of Moscow’s main COVID-19 hospital tests positive for coronavirus

Denis Protsenko, the lead doctor for Moscow’s City Hospital No. 40, has tested positive for the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the state television channel Rossiya 24 reported.

Protsenko’s hospital, located in the Kommunarka neighborhood, is Moscow’s central facility for treating patients who have the virus or may have been exposed to it. The chief doctor has emphasized public communication in his work, writing regularly about the hospital’s operations on Facebook.

Medical staff say Protsenko is in the hospital himself and that his condition is satisfactory. Protsenko confirmed that information, writing that he has self-isolated in his office and is working remotely in the process. On March 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Kommunarka hospital, spoke with Protsenko, and shook his hand.

Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov assured the press that Putin is regularly tested for the new coronavirus and that “everything’s okay.”