- Russian President Vladimir Putin said "everything is fine" after he was seen coughing during a televised meeting.
- Putin said he was tested nearly every day for COVID-19 and "all kinds" of other infections.
Russian President Vladimir Putin reassured a concerned lawmaker that he was not ill with COVID-19 on Monday when he was seen coughing during a televised meeting.
"Don't worry, everything is fine. They test me practically on a daily basis not just for COVID-19 but all kinds of other infections, so it's all good," Putin, 69, said after Valentina Matviyenko, the speaker of the upper house of parliament, asked him about his health, Reuters reported.
According to the report, Putin was seen coughing while he was sitting alone during the virtual meeting. He attributed his coughing to cool temperatures, according to Reuters, and encouraged his colleagues at the meeting to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
In September, Putin had gone into self-isolation after people who worked closely with him tested positive for COVID-19. At the time, a Kremlin spokesperson said Putin tested negative for the disease and said he was "in excellent health," as Insider previously noted.
According to data from the World Health Organization, Russia has experienced more than 7.7 million COVID-19 cases since the pandemic began, which have resulted in more than 216,000 deaths, according to the WHO data. More than 91 million vaccine doses have been administered in the country, per the data.