Kremlin spokesman says Health Ministry order on coordinating public comments about COVID-19 ‘is not a ban’
In conversation with journalists on Thursday, October 29, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov commented on the Health Ministry’s decision to order healthcare institutions under their jurisdiction to coordinate all public comments about the coronavirus through the ministry’s press service. Peskov maintained that the order does not constitute a ban:
“This is not a ban. You understand, it’s just the inconsistency in the statements about the coronavirus from what we call subordinate doctors, I mean, really…Listen, when one doctor says that gloves are harmful and another says that they’re useful, and a third says they’re necessary, but a fourth says they’re not necessary…Well, this is wrong. After all, doctors are responsible for people’s health. And it’s probably bad for people, for you and me. In fact, you just need to coordinate, no one is banning anyone from anything. This is just a call to ensure that there’s no such insanity,” he said.
The letter containing the orders from the Health Ministry was made public on October 28. It states that the heads of institutions under the Health Ministry’s jurisdiction must coordinate “any comments and public information on the topic of the new coronavirus infection” with the ministry’s press service either via email or over the phone.
The Health Ministry explained that this was a necessary step “to increase the efficiency of informing the population about measures to counter the spread and prevention of incidence of COVID-19.” Health minister’s aide Alexey Kuznetsov told Meduza that only comments regarding measures to prevent and treat COVID-19 need to be coordinated with the ministry.