Nearly 90 coronavirus cases reported at Polyus unit in Siberia

Nearly 90 cases of the novel coronavirus have been recorded among employees of Polyus Krasnoyarsk, a unit of Russia's largest gold producer Polyus, the regional branch of Russia's consumer health watchdog said on Saturday. Of the 89 infected employees at Polyus Krasnoyarsk, which is based in eastern Siberia, 82 tested positive for the virus in the last day, the regional branch of the Rospotrebnadzor consumer health watchdog said.

It said the employees infected with the virus were in self-isolation and that more were being tested. Polyus said in a statement that most of the employees who had tested positive for the virus were not experiencing any symptoms. It said it had split its staff into small groups and was putting them in self-isolation as soon as a coronavirus test came back positive.

Polyus Krasnoyarsk is the company's largest unit, operating its Olimpiada, Blagodatnoye, and Titimukhta mines. As of Saturday, Russia had reported 198,676 coronavirus cases and 1,827 deaths. It now has the world's fifth-highest total of confirmed coronavirus cases.