The consequences of coronavirus spread have an increasing impact on sport. In Switzerland there was a crackdown, a German cyclist is quarantined on the Persian Gulf. German football also takes precautionary measures.
Munich (dpa) - The spreading corona virus also brings sport more and more into need.
In Abu Dhabi and Berlin, professional cyclists are in quarantine, physical contact was practically prohibited at World Cup ski races in northern Italy and, for fear of Covid-19, Switzerland has banned all major sporting events, including top games in football and ice hockey. Precautions against the virus also determine everyday life in Germany. RB Leipzig canceled all trips of its players, scouts and employees, not only at SC Freiburg shakes hands.
In Switzerland, the authorities took action: on Friday until March 15, the Federal Council banned all sports events with more than 1,000 spectators. All football first division matches of the weekend were rescheduled to an indefinite date. The league association announced that the following match days should be decided in the coming week. In ice hockey, the championship playoffs are scheduled for March 7, the last two National League qualifying rounds before that take place in front of empty ranks, as the league announced. The World Cup will also take place in Switzerland in May.
Football in Germany has already reacted to the situation, although not (as yet) as severely as in Switzerland. "All trips have currently been canceled," reported Leipzig coach Julian Nagelsmann. At SC Freiburg, coach Christian Streich said "that we don't shake hands all the time". A key precaution against the spread of the virus is to wash and disinfect your hands regularly and intensively.
Bayern coach Hansi Flick announced that he would talk to the team doctor again. "It is important that we take all precautions so that we are really on the safe side," he said. Title rival Borussia Dortmund has armed itself against possible game cancellations: the club has default insurance, said a spokesman.
While top international football has so far been spared infections, cycling has already come into direct contact with the new corona virus. The UAE Tour in the United Arab Emirates was stopped before the stage on Friday because two Italian employees from a team tested positive.
"At four in the morning we knocked on the door at our hotel here in Abu Dhabi and told us that the race was canceled and we had to go to the medical checkup immediately," said German sprinter Pascal Ackermann of the German Press Agency. The Bora-hansgrohe team driver is now under quarantine in a hotel. "Actually, we don't really know what's going on here," he said. "First of all, we have to see whether we can get out of Dubai or, in the worst case, stay in the hotel for two weeks."
In Berlin, the Danish professional cyclist Michael Mørkøv was isolated in a hotel after he had traveled from the UAE Tour. He actually wanted to start at the World Railroad Championships at the weekend. "We are currently examining the situation with the chief physician, the local health authorities and other affected parties," said the world association UCI.
As little physical contact as possible is a general maxim in sports. At the Ski World Cup in La Thuile in the Aosta Valley in northern Italy, journalists must keep a distance of at least one and a half meters when interviewing athletes; handshakes are prohibited.
Sports doctor Wilhelm Bloch advises athletes not to give interviews or sign autographs immediately after the competitions. After high loads, the barrier for pathogens in the upper respiratory tract would become a little more "holey" because they would then breathe more, the professor from the German Sport University in Cologne told dpa.
The Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai on April 19 was already canceled in Formula One, there are doubts about the races taking place in Bahrain on March 22 and in Vietnam on April 5. The start of the season in Melbourne on March 15 is still certain. Australia's Health Minister Greg Hunt warned of panic and major cuts in everyday life. "Go to the Chinese restaurant, go to the football or Grand Prix or the netball," he said.
Swiss Epidemic Act
WHO situation reports Covid-19
Robert Koch Institute on Covid-19
WHO information page Covid-19
