"If an infected person enters the factory, everything will fall apart", 28 April 2020

In late March, two COVID-19 cases were discovered at the large AvtoVaz factory in the Russian city of Tolyatti. The next month, by order of the directors, around 30,000 people still turned up for work...

In early April, Governor of the Samara Region Dmitry Azarov declared that AvtoVaz had urged the local authorities to be allowed to resume operations... Workers at the car plant were soon taking to social media to complain about crowded buses, lower wages, and the poor quality of the masks provided. Shortly after arriving at work, some employees of the car plant were sent back home due to downtime and, in accordance with Article 157 Section 2 of Russia's Labour Code, paid a new rate at two thirds of their average wage. If the company had not resumed work, these employees would have received their wages in full.