MOSCOW, June 17. /TASS/. The Russian national trampoline jumping team has started its training sessions at the Novogorsk training center near Moscow after all athletes and the accompanying staff took tests for the novel coronavirus, Nikolai Makarov, the president of the Russian Trampoline Federation, told TASS on Wednesday.

"The Russian national trampoline team arrived at the Novogorsk training center on June 8. The strongest athletes are here," Makarov said. "In line with the most recent requirements they all took tests for the novel coronavirus." "All the athletes are healthy and started their training sessions," he continued. "Our training camp is due to end on June 26."

On May 22, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a proposal from the Sports Ministry of Russia to reopen training camps for national teams’ athletes on condition that all disciplinary and sanitary measures in view of the COVID-19 pandemic are strictly observed.

During an on-line session with President Putin on May 22 regarding the current sanitary and epidemiological situation in the country, Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin presented a step-by-step report on the restoration of the system of national training camps.

Last month, the European Union of Gymnastics announced that Russia’s southern resort city of Sochi would host next year the postponed 2020 European Championships in Trampoline. The championship was initially scheduled to run between April 29 and May 2 in Sweden’s Gothenburg, but was put off earlier in the year due to the ongoing global spread of the novel coronavirus.

At the previous European Trampoline Championship in Azerbaijan’s Baku, the Russian team finished second in the overall medals standings having packed one gold and one silver medals. The European Trampoline Championships is a biennial tournament, which has been organized by the European Union of Gymnastics since 1969.

COVID-19

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 8,266,480 people have been infected worldwide and more than 446,000 deaths have been reported. In addition, so far, over 4,323,350 individuals have recovered from the illness across the globe.

 To date, 553,301 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Russia, with 304,342 patients having recovered from the disease. Russia’s latest data indicates 7,478 fatalities nationwide. Earlier, the Russian government set up an Internet hotline to keep the public updated on the coronavirus situation.