Fatal Hospital Fire in St. Petersburg (Russia)

Putin's coronavirus crisis deepens with fatal hospital fire and spokesman's diagnosis

Nathan Hodge, CNN, Updated 10:26 AM ET, Tue May 12, 2020

(CNN)A fire in a hospital treating coronavirus victims claimed the lives of five patients and forced the evacuation of 150 people in the Russian city of St. Petersburg on Tuesday, further testing the Russian government's response to the Covid-19 pandemic amid a growing crisis that has reached the Kremlin's inner circle.

The St. Petersburg fire broke out on the sixth floor of an intensive care unit at the St. George Hospital, killing five coronavirus patients connected to ventilating equipment, the TASS news agency reported, citing medical personnel.

According to initial findings, the fire may have been caused by a short circuit in a ventilator or its malfunction, state news agencies said. The Investigative Committee, Russia's top law enforcement body, said a criminal investigation had been opened into the matter. The grim news from St. Petersburg was quickly overshadowed by the disclosure that Dmitry Peskov, Russian President Vladimir Putin's longtime spokesperson, had been hospitalized with coronavirus.

Peskov told Russian state news agency TASS that the last time he had seen the President in person was "over a month ago," but the news follows the hospitalization of Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin for coronavirus and is likely to intensify concerns about Putin's own health.