Russian President Vladimir Putin has entered self-isolation due to several close officials catching COVID-19, When asked by reporters Russian Diplomat Dmitry Peskov said that Putin was “absolutely healthy” and that Putin was not infected with the virus.

Nothing was said as to when Putin had begun isolating, but he had mentioned it during the meeting with the Paralympians.

Putin’s isolation may be related to the growing COVID-19 cases in the country as of September 20th. Almost 20,000 more cases have been reported to have been in the country, adding onto the pile of cases since the start of COVID adding to the 7,294,672 confirmed cases in Russia.

With a population of 140 million, the country currently has nearly 47 million people who have the first dose of the vaccine, which is only 33% of the country. The total of vaccinated individuals who have the second dose of the vaccine is only 40 million which is only about 29% of the population.

The CDC has deemed Russia at level 3 in COVID-19 scale, meaning high in transmission this may have pushed Vladimir Putin into isolation along with the growing number of cases in his inner circle and country.