The initial reaction was to smile or be angry, it all depends. Now, the episode has a tendency to worry above all else. On Saturday evening, Belenens’s humble Lisbon football team was in a state of disarray: Kovid-19 lost fourteen players, its coach and several of its technical staff, and had nine players lined up before it was reduced. Until … six. Then we spread the green carpet and stopped the meeting, not knowing how the bread would last more than half.
This Monday we learned that the origin of this large source of pollution (affecting 13 players) for the first time in the country was actually the Omicron variant. This raises the question of the full-quality that this new version of Kovid-19 is trying to spread.
Clearly, the sports world is as concerned as any other part of the planet. He also has to adapt to this particularly frightening new epidemic episode. As competition for entry into territories from Japan to Australia (total closure) via Europe begins to tighten, many competitions may come to a standstill in the coming weeks. As a first precaution, it is not necessary if doubts about its severity and resistance to vaccines are proven.
Cancellations already
The 9th round of the Cyclo-Cross World Cup, scheduled for next Sunday in Antwerp (Belgium), has been canceled, similar to the World Squash Championships to be held in Malaysia from December 7 to 12. Visa policies, from one country to another, greatly complicate the work of organizers.
In France, the return of the mask to all sports venues seems inevitable in France. It has already happened in League 1 this weekend in Lens, Saint-Etienne and L’Oreal – without taking it seriously – by order of Prefect. The return of viewer gauges cannot be ruled out. As a sign of Ambient anxiety, the German government estimates that the influx of 50,000 supporters in Cologne without wearing a mask for the Rhine Derby against Mൻnchengladbach this weekend is “difficult to understand” (4-1).
Athletes trapped in South Africa
More urgently, there is also the question of repatriating athletes trapped in South Africa, the country where Omiciron was first officially discovered. Four rugby teams (Italians from Zebra, Irish from Munster, Welsh from Cardiff and Scarlett) were unable to leave the area on Sunday following Kovid-19 positive cases. According to the Irish Sports Minister, Munster was allowed to return to Ireland on Monday evening.
A group of Romanian citizens waiting to be evacuated include 31 players and members of the technical staff of a rugby team participating in an international tournament. Fifteen British and Irish golfers who were in Johannesburg for a tournament were able to escape the quarantine on Friday. They were retreating as a precaution to return to their homeland on time.
Finally, one can not help but think of the Winter Olympics, which begin two months and five days (February 4-February 20) in Beijing. The country wants to limit the risk of pollution at all costs and is implementing a health policy aimed at “zero infection”.
Travel fan. Freelance analyst. Proud problem solver. Infuriatingly humble zombie junkie.
