A new outbreak in the RPL: ​​six Orenburg players passed positive tests for COVID-19

Orenburg has become another club of the Russian Premier League, which recorded an outbreak of coronavirus infection. This became known two days before the match of the 24th round of the national championship, in which the team was to host Krasnodar in its field.

Television commentator Nobel Arustamyan was the first to report COVID-19 in Orenburg. In his Telegram channel, he said that several players and club employees have passed positive tests and are now waiting for re-checks. The team had to quarantine.

Soon received confirmation of this information from the president of the RPL Sergey Pryadkin. He spoke about the investigation initiated by Rospotrebnadzor.

“The operational headquarters of the RPL became aware that a number of representatives of Orenburg, during routine testing, showed signs of infection with a new coronavirus infection. Currently, all of them are isolated, an investigation is being carried out by the forces of the regional branch of Rospotrebnadzor, the results of which will be announced shortly. The operational headquarters of the RPL is in constant contact with representatives of the club and the regional Rospotrebnadzor, ”explained Pryadkin.

Following the head of the RPL, they commented on the situation in the club itself. It is reported that positive samples were identified in six players and two team members. They did not begin to disclose the names of those infected in Orenburg. The club’s statement noted that all the patients had negative results before the match of the 23rd round with Lokomotiv, and all of them were part of the delegation that took part in the meeting.

The head coach of Orenburg residents Konstantin Paramonov also said that the infection occurred after the game with the “railwaymen”. He also noted that he was now waiting for a decision on the possible participation of the team in the match with Krasnodar.

“After the game with Lokomotiv, we flew in and passed tests at the airport. After that, we learned that some players have positive results. I can’t name the surname, but the management said that it was a group of players. We have canceled today's training and are waiting for the decision of the leadership, ”the specialist told the Championship.

“Tonight, everything will be decided, there are two options for the development of events. The first is that if there are any changes in the regulations, we, as Ufa, isolate the diseased players, the rest will play, we will add understudies. The second one is backups, ”he added.

Meanwhile, in Lokomotiv, after defeating Orenburg with a score of 1: 0, they decided to move to the club base in Bakovka and observe the regime of self-isolation on it. The team’s press service said that drastic measures were being taken because of the increased incidence of COVID-19 infection in the Premier League.

The chairman of the board of directors of Lokomotiv, Anatoly Meshcheryakov, confirmed that there were no patients in his team, and Orenburg players could not infect Marko Nikolic’s wards.

“In accordance with the rules of renewal of the RPL, the team passes the tests the day before the game. Accordingly, Orenburg came to us to play clean and healthy players. Where they got it later, I don’t know anymore. But I can say that with us, pah-pah-pah, everything is fine, there are no patients. Separately, I want to note that I am very pleased how responsible the players and the coaching staff approached security measures. To exclude all risks, the team was isolated at the base. And, I note, this was the decision of the players, ”Meshcheryakov told the Championship.

The fate of the next match between Orenburg and Krasnodar remains unclear. It will not work to transfer this game to the reserve day, as Moscow Dynamo took this opportunity, which was supposed to meet with the wards of Murad Musaev in the previous round. As Paramonov has already noted, the club can either repeat the fate of Rostov, which was forced to play with Sochi by the youth squad and lost 1:10, or save the backbone of the team and play without infected players.

The latter option will be possible if Rospotrebnadzor satisfies the request of the RPL clubs to mitigate quarantine requirements. Now the teams are required to isolate themselves for 14 days if at least one player has passed a positive test for coronavirus. Clubs want to quarantine only those players and employees who are in close contact with the infected.