Russian player tested positive for Covid-19

MOSCOW: Veteran Peruvian striker Jefferson Farfan has become the first player in Russia to test positive for coronavirus, his Lokomotiv Moscow club said Saturday, just five weeks before the Premier League season restarts.

"The coronavirus has been diagnosed in our player Jefferson Farfan. Our best wishes for your health, Jeff. Recover quickly," Lokomotiv tweeted. Anatoli Mechtcheriakov, chairman of the club’s board of directors, told Ria-Novosti news agency: "He is in Moscow and has not been hospitalised." Farfan, 35, who signed for Lokomotiv in 2017, has not played at all this season for the club after suffering a knee injury in last year’s Copa America. The Russian Premier League, suspended since March 17, will resume on June 21 behind closed doors.