In a state of alert. Several rugby and golf players in Europe decided to request this their departure from South Africa with great urgency due to the discovery of a new variant of the coronavirus (COVID-19), potentially very contagious and with multiple mutations.
The sixth round of the United Rugby Championship (URC) and four rugby clubs are being played; a Scotsman, another Welshman, a third Italian and an Irishman, are in the country to participate against South African teams; however, they prefer to return to their respective countries.
Not only in rubgy, a fortnight of British and Irish players declared themselves withdrawn for the Johannesburg Open, of the European golf circuit, which began on Thursday. This is because their objective is to get out of the country quickly, before the British authorities close the border and flights to London are canceled.
Cricket could also be affected with a test-match between South Africa and the Netherlands, scheduled this Friday. The celebration of the duel has not been confirmed.
The trigger for the athletes was the press conference of the Ministry of Health in which the new variant was announced, caused panic among athletes: “The situation in South Africa has changed so rapidly that we are looking for our staff to be repatriated as soon as possible. For affected families and friends, we will assure them that our goal is to ensure the well-being of our staff. ”
What is the variant of COVID-19 in South Africa?
The name of the variant is B.1.1.529, the same one that has a number “extremely high ” of mutations and “We can see that it has a very high potential for spread”said the virologist Tulio de Oliveira during an online press conference of the Ministry of Health.
For now, South African scientists do not know if existing vaccines are effective against this new form of the virus. South Africa accumulates 2.9 million infections and 89,600 deaths. On Wednesday, 1,200 infections were registered in just 24 hours, against a hundred at the beginning of the month.
Authorities fear a new pandemic wave before the end of the year. Only 35% of eligible adults are fully vaccinated.
.
