Pro-Kremlin state television host Dmitry Kiselyov has been hospitalized with the coronavirus, he told state media Tuesday.
Kiselyov, 67, is the host of the weekly “Vesti Nedeli” (“News of the Week”) program, where he is known for trumpeting strong anti-Western, pro-Putin rhetoric. He has headed the state-owned Rossiya Segodnya news agency, which includes the RT broadcaster, since December 2013.
Kiselyov told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency that he was hospitalized with a high fever of over 38 degrees Celsius but that his condition is already improving.
“The treatment had good results and my temperature is already back to normal … the outlook is optimistic," he told RIA Novosti.
Earlier that day, the Mash Telegram channel cited unnamed sources as saying that Kiselyov was hospitalized with a moderately severe case of coronavirus with roughly 25-50% lung damage. Mash reported that Kiselyov's symptoms developed as a dry cough, fever and shortness of breath, but that he continued to work until his PCR test came back positive.
In January, Kiselyov told media that he had been vaccinated against Covid-19 with Russia's Sputnik V vaccine.
A day before his hospitalization, Kiselyov hailed a proposal by the Russian Prosecutors’ Office to equate the rehabilitation, justification or propaganda of Nazism with extremist activity.
This summer, Russia passed a law banning comparisons between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.
