MOSCOW, May 6. /TASS/. The Russian Anti-Doping Agency (RUSADA) will resume its work on testing athletes for banned performance enhancing substances after May 20, RUSADA Director General Yury Ganus said during an online news conference organized by TASS on Wednesday.

"One of the most important news today is that RUSADA is resuming its testing work in the closing ten-day period of May," Ganus said. "We have been carrying on with our routine work with the exception of athletes’ testing paying particular attention to planning."

"A decision was made to continue with the testing work and our approach to this issue is balanced, well-weighed and concentrated," he continued.

On March 27, RUSADA announced its decision to halt athletes’ testing for banned substances for a one-week period. The decision followed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement that the week between March 30 and April 3 would be non-working with salary preserved. On April 3, Putin extended the paid non-working period across Russia until April 30 in an effort to stem the spread of COVID-19 and RUSADA extended the suspension of athletes’ testing work until May.

On April 28, Putin held an online meeting with regional governors, handing down instructions to draw up recommendations for easing restrictions starting on May 12. The president announced at that meeting that the non-working period in the country would be extended again until May 11. Russia’s governing anti-doping body followed the instructions of the Russian leader prolonging the halt in its testing work.

Ganus announced on April 14 that RUSADA planned to purchase special protective outfits for doping-control inspectors after the testing was resumed.

"We have a testing model fitting in such complicated circumstances as we have worked out a mechanism for this situation," Ganus addressed the online news conference today. "We have an understanding on the special protective outfits, we have already ordered some of them and continue with our orders."

"We are currently waiting for the updated recommendations from the World Anti-Doping Agency [WADA] and expect to receive them any day," he said. "We are resuming with our tests starting with the closing ten-day period of May."

Speaking during the online conference on Wednesday, Viktoria Barinova, the head of RUSADA Testing Department, said that special protective outfits would be a must for all doping inspectors of the agency.

"We have launched separate work with our testing staff experts," Barinova said. "We are very grateful that they have stated their readiness to continue working with us."

"We must resort to protective measures both in regard to our experts and athletes as there can be no excessive measures [of protection] under current circumstances," she continued. "RUSADA inspectors will be obliged to carry out testing wearing special protective outfits. Our experts are required to have masks and sanitizers as well."

"We have also taken into account interests of athletes as being surrounded by their family members they should be taking care not only of themselves," Barinova added.

Elaborating on the resumption of the agency’s testing work later this month, RUSADA chief Ganus said that the organization turned to all Russian sports federations asking them to provide space at their facilities for RUSADA doping inspectors.

"The quality and consistency of the testing work increases the level of trust in the jurisdiction," Ganus stated. "I address all heads of sports federations asking them to provide venues for our testing work."

"This is extremely important for us to carry on with our professional duties," the head of RUSADA added.

In 2019, RUSADA carried out 9,743 doping inspections collecting 11,316 samples, which exceeded the agency’s earlier announced annual target of 11,000 samples.

RUSADA Director General Ganus announced to TASS early last year that the national anti-doping agency planned to collect 11,000 doping samples in 2019 and to increase this figure to 13,000 in 2020. The increase in the number of doping samples was planned to be achieved by the cost reduction in logistics and more effective organization of the work.

In late December 2019, Chinese officials notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus — named COVID-19 by the WHO — have been reported in every corner of the globe, including Russia.

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. According to the latest statistics, over 3,700,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 258,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 1,250,000 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

To date, a total of 165,929 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 21,327 patients having recovered from the virus. Russia’s latest data indicates 1,537 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.