Chaos due to the new variant!

European rugby and golf players wanted to leave South Africa urgently on Friday after the discovery of a new variant of Covid-19 potentially very contagious and with multiple mutations.

Four rugby clubs, Welsh, Italian and Irish, on hand to compete against South African teams in Matchday 6 of the United Rugby Championship (URC), were in South Africa when a Ministry of Health press conference called a movement of panic among the sportsmen.

“As the situation in South Africa has changed so rapidly, we are now looking to repatriate our staff as soon as possible. For the families and friends concerned, rest assured that our goal is to ensure the safety and well-being of our staff and that we will keep you informed as the situation develops, ”the Cardiff club tweeted.

Same story with the Scarlets: “Following the announcement of a new variant in South Africa, the Scarlets wish to assure families and friends that we are doing all we can to bring our tour team back to the Kingdom. United as soon as possible ”.

Munster, for its part, assured to be “safe and healthy”, while working “with the organizers of the RCU on the current situation”.

Four matches are scheduled this weekend for the 6th day of the URC, a championship opposing Welsh, Irish, Italian, Scottish and South African teams: the Italians of the Zebre against the Stormers (Cape Town), the Welsh Scarlets against the Sharks (Durban), the Irish Munster ahead of the Bulls (Pretoria) on Saturday and the Welsh Cardiff against the Lions (Johannesburg).

Run for your life

The new variant, dubbed B.1.1.529, has an “extremely high” number of mutations and “we can see that it has a potential for very rapid spread,” virologist Tulio de Oliveira told a conference. online news outlet led by the South African Department of Health.

The statement also prompted some 15 British and Irish players to immediately withdraw from the rest of the Johannesburg Open, counting towards the European golf circuit, which started on Thursday.

Their goal, revealed the specialized site Golf Planète, was then to leave the country as quickly as possible before the borders were closed by the British authorities and flights to London were canceled.

ATS