The city that builds Russia's nuclear submarines now has more than 2,000 COVID-19 cases

The building of nuclear subs and other naval vessels takes no break despite the increasingly serious virus situation in Severodvinsk.

Approximately 43 percent of all infections in the region of Arkhangelsk are registered in Severodvinsk, regional authorities recently announced.

That indicates that there now are more than 2,000 cases in the city.

The lion’s share of the people infected are affiliated with Sevmash and Zvezdochka, the two naval yards.

Despite the introduction of protective measures, the virus has continued to spread among the local population of about 180,000.

Only over the last week, more than 320 new cases have been registered in town, most of them among the shipbuilders, a statistics overview shows.

Temperature testing is conducted both at the entry of the yards, as well as in the construction premises, and workers are obliged to carry masks.

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But the mask regime is not observed, a local employee told newspaper Sever.Realii in early June. Every worker is given ten masks every five days along with a liter of antiseptic.

But most workers still do not carry the masks and ignore rules of social distancing, the worker said.

There are about 30,000 employees at the Sevmash, while the Zvezdochka has about 11,000 workers.

While the Zvezdochka engages primarily in vessel repair and upgrades, the Sevmash builds the nuclear submarines. At the moment, there are at least eight new vessels under construction on site, among them four Borey-class and four Yasen-class subs.