Impact of coronavirus in football

Infections affect the daily lives of people in nations all over the globe, they rarely develop into a pandemic though and even more rarely affect the activities and fixtures of the sporting world. That has unexpectedly and quite shockingly changed with the arrival of CORONAVIRUS.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are common in people and many different species of animals, including camels, cattle, cats, and bats. Rarely, animal coronaviruses can infect people and then spread between people such as with MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV, and now with this new virus (named SARS-CoV-2).

The SARS-CoV-2 virus is a betacoronavirus, like MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV.  All three of these viruses have their origins in bats. The sequences from U.S. patients are similar to the one that China initially posted, suggesting a likely single, recent emergence of this virus from an animal reservoir.

Early on, many of the patients at the epicenter of the outbreak in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China had some link to a large seafood and live animal market, suggesting animal-to-person spread. Later, a growing number of patients reportedly did not have exposure to animal markets, indicating person-to-person spread. Person-to-person spread was subsequently reported outside Hubei and in countries outside China, including in the United States. Some international destinations now have apparent community spread with the virus that causes COVID-19, as do some parts of the United States. Community spread means some people have been infected and it is not known how or where they became exposed.

The postponed fixture involving Arsenal FC and Manchester city billed previously to be played today at the Etihad stadium is the latest installment of football activity( and first in England this season) being affected by the fear of the CORONAVIRUS disease with the Arsenal players and staff being self-isolated after coming in contact with the infected Olympiacos owner Evangelos Marinakis during the Europa league tie between both clubs more than a week ago.

The Uefa Champions League has been affected too by fears of the virus with the games being played without the presence of the fans in the latest fixtures, the game yesterday involving Leipzig and Tottenham being the only exception so far, a bold albeit unwise move by everyone involved with that particular decision.

Reports from renowned French publication L’equipe also emerged yesterday that PSG and French international superstar Kylian Mbappé was also tested for CORONAVIRUS and that the results of the test will be available tomorrow but early indications are that he has not contacted the virus.

More prominently and Unarguably most affected by the virus in the sporting world is the Italian league (Serie A) which at first employed the method of fans being absent in the crunch table-topping match involving Juventus and Inter Milan, before finally taking a break from all Serie A matches until April 3 because of the outbreak of the virus.

Liverpool former coach and legend Bill shankly famously said

“Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I don’t like that attitude. I can assure them it is much more serious than that”

If anything the outbreak and incessant increase of affected coronavirus patients and the backseat it has temporarily rendered to the sport has put that particular famous quote to shame.