MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russian President Vladimir Putin will continue working remotely for at least another week, especially in light of the recent infection of a Moscow coronavirus hospital chief with COVID-19, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday.

"A week has passed; I dare to suggest that [Putin will work remotely] at least for another week, or even longer", Peskov said when asked how long the president was going to work remotely.

"I think that the case with the chief Kommunarka physician falling ill has demonstrated that, despite all precautions, the best and only effective measure is to reduce physical contacts, and that is exactly what the president did", Peskov said in the "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin" weekly show on the Rossiya-1 TV channel.

On 2 April, Putin ordered that the initially week-long coronavirus-related nationwide paid leave to be extended throughout the entire month of April.

"In fact, it is extraordinary, enormous pressure on the economic life, and this pressure [is negatively affecting the economy]", the presidential spokesman said, adding that there had been many disagreements and disputes around that decision.

"But there is one constant here — the most important thing for us in any circumstances is lives and well-being of people. [We are] not forgetting, of course, about difficulties that economic actors are now facing", Peskov said.

On 24 March, Putin visited the designated COVID-19 hospital in the southern Moscow district of Kommunarka and met with its chief doctor, Denis Protsenko. A week later, Protsenko confirmed testing positive for the coronavirus.

As of Sunday, 5,389 cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Russia, the majority in the capital city of Moscow.