Olga Lyubimova works remotely after she tested positive for coronavirus
Moscow:
Russia's culture minister tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday, her spokeswoman said, since the country's total number of cases exceeded 1.65,000.
Minister Olga Lyubimova's illness was announced after Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Minister of Construction Vladimir Yakushev had both been hospitalized with the virus.
Lyubimova works from home after receiving a positive test result, her spokeswoman Anna Usachyova said in a statement.
"The disease is mild and there is no question that it will be hospitalized."
Lyubimova, a former journalist and documentary filmmaker, was appointed in January and is one of the youngest in the cabinet at 39.
She replaced a controversial figure, Vladimir Medinsky, who campaigned for publicly funded arts to focus on patriotic issues such as World War II.
President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday at a meeting on strategies to end the virus ban, Prime Minister Mishustin "is recovering" and they are in daily contact.
Russia became the fifth largest affected country in Europe in confirmed cases and the sixth in the world on Wednesday.
165,929 cases and 1,537 deaths were confirmed, with most of the new cases concentrated in the densely populated capital Moscow.
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