“The situation indeed is not an easy one. The collegial body is obliged to assemble, so every time, despite the fact that we do the testing, we see that more and more of our colleagues are sick. Today, 38 lawmakers are in hospitals, one is in intensive care. You know that one lawmaker died as a result of the pandemic,” Vyacheslav Volodin said, according to a Kremlin readout.
"Of course, we are taking certain measures to keep the parliament working, but.. we have 91 deputies who have been ill or are sick today,” Volodin added.
The 450-member Duma partially shifted to remote work last month in an attempt to curb the spread of coronavirus.
In September, Russian state-run news agency RIA Novosti that a Duma member from the communist party, 67-year old Vakha Agayev, had died from coronavirus complications.