Lead doctor of hospital where coronavirus patients escaped quarantine is fired

St. Petersburg’s Healthcare Committee has fired Alexey Yakovlev, the lead doctor for the Botkin Municipal Clinical Hospital.

According to Doctor Piter, an outlet that covers health news in the city, the firing was “initiated by [Yakovlev’s] employer”; no other information about the causes of the move is yet available. Interfax confirmed the firing but was also unable to provide context.

In early February, the Botkin Hospital was used as a quarantine site for several patients suspected of coronavirus exposure. Four of those patients escaped the quarantine, and two eventually turned themselves in. One patient, Alla Ilyina, was charged with an administrative violation and forcibly re-hospitalized.

Alexey Yakovlev began working at the Botkin Hospital in 1980 and entered the institution’s leading role in 1994. He has received Russia’s nationwide government honor for doctors.