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Coronavirus pandemic

Russia’s pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko jailed in US says he has dry cough, fever

Coronavirus cases have been reported in the jail, the pilot's wife recalled

ROSTOV-ON-DON, April 3. /TASS/. Russian air pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who is serving a prison term in a US jail, complains about dry cough and fever, but he has refrained from turning to medics so far to avoid transfer to a block with coronavirus-infected inmates, his wife Viktoria told TASS on Friday.

"Konstantin has dry cough. Yesterday he was running a fever. It seemed to be gone when he woke up this morning. He avoids turning to medics, because he may be transferred to the block for the infected," she explained.

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Viktoria says that the prison block where the first coronavirus cases were diagnosed has been closed for a week. The others were shut on March 30. A state of emergency was introduced in the whole prison due to coronavirus risks.

"A state of emergency has been imposed. The convicts are not allowed to go outdoors. Meals are delivered to all of the prison’s blocks," she added.

According to Viktoria, several people infected with the coronavirus were transferred to an isolation ward from the block where her husband is kept. "Seventy percent of inmates have cough. Coronavirus tests are made whenever somebody has a fever. If the test is positive, the person is isolated," Yaroshenko said.

Earlier, Yaroshenko’s lawyer Alexei Tarasov told TASS he had pled with the Federal Bureau of Prisons to set the pilot free in view of the threat the novel coronavirus may pose to his health.

Yaroshenko was convicted in the US on September 7, 2011 and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He pled not guilty, describing his arrest as a provocation and all charges against him as fake. Yaroshenko had been brought to the United States from Liberia, where he was arrested on May 28, 2010. Agents of the US Drug Enforcement Agency operating undercover ostensibly obtained evidence Yaroshenko had criminal intent to transport a large batch of cocaine.

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