Volodin tested positive for COVID-19

Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin's visit to India was postponed due to a positive testcovid-19 , the press service of the lower house of parliament told RBK.

The politician tested positive for COVID-19 after taking a test late last week. Aside from his visit to India, he will be unable to attend the meeting of the Supreme State Council of the Union State in Minsk. The speaker is currently working remotely.

In 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Volodin twice reported receiving a coronavirus vaccination . The Russian Ministry of Health recommended booster shots every six months "during an epidemiological surge ." The politician subsequently failed to report any booster shots.

On December 5, Volodin participated in a meeting between the president and permanent members of the Security Council. The meeting was held via videoconference. The topic was the development of industries producing dual-use products.

Volodin also participated via videoconference in a meeting to discuss preparations for the CSTO Parliamentary Assembly Council and the CSTO plenary session scheduled for December 9.

According to the task force, 2,758 people were hospitalized with coronavirus in Russia during the week from November 25 to December 1. The number of hospitalizations increased by 7.7% compared to the previous week. Meanwhile, 28,536 people recovered, a 13.4% increase compared to the previous week. Sixty-one people died during the week.

In mid-September, Rospotrebnadzor reported that the country had recorded a sharp increase in variants of pathogensCOVID-19 variants capable of evading immunity to the infection. The agency explained that by that time, over the past two to three weeks, the prevalence of variants of the novel coronavirus—KP.3 and LB.1, which are part of the FLiRT sublineage—had increased 2.5-fold in Russia.