"Thank you Vladimir Vladimirovich, I'm better already and I'm actively back at work," the minister replied. Falkov is the fourth member of Putin's government known to have caught the coronavirus, including Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin who is still recovering, but has remotely attended at least one government meeting by video conference. Earlier this week, the Kremlin's veteran spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said he had also fallen ill with the coronavirus and contracted double pneumonia. On Thursday, Russia's official coronavirus case tally passed the 250,000 mark after 9,974 new cases were recorded in the last 24 hours, the lowest one-day rise in almost two weeks. At 252,245, the case total is the second highest in the world after the United States, although authorities say the high figure shows how thoroughly officials are testing people.

Source: bd News24 May 14, 2020 16:30 UTC