Alexei Navalny 'seriously ill' on prison sick ward, says lawyer

Russian opposition figure has fever, cough and has lost weight, according to legal team member who visited him

Alexei Navalny's lawyer has said confirmed that the opposition leader is seriously ill" after reports emerged that he had been transferred to a prison sick ward for a respiratory illness and had been tested for coronavirus.

The Kremlin critic said in a note published on Monday that he was coughing and had a temperature of 38.1C (100.6F). Several prisoners from his ward had already been treated in hospital for tuberculosis, Navalny wrote. Hours later, the pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestia reported he had been moved to a sick ward and tested for coronavirus, among other diseases.