Coronavirus: Three Leicester City players isolated with 'coronavirus symptoms'
The players are isolated, as sporting fixtures around the world are postponed due to the spread of the global pandemic.
Thursday 12 March 2020 23:24, UK
Three players at Premier League club Leicester City have shown symptoms of coronavirus and have been isolated, the team's manager has said.
"We've had a few players that have shown symptoms and signs (of coronavirus). We've followed procedures and (as a precaution) they have been kept away from the squad," Brendan Rodgers said.
"We've self-isolated the three of them and we'll see how that develops in the next couple of days
"This is about health, this is more than football. This is about players and their families, so any risks that are there for their health and everyone else's, we have to mitigate against that.
"The game is all about the players and the fans. If you have one of those not there, it's obviously not the same."
Leicester's next match is at Watford on Saturday lunchtime.
The future of this season's Champions League, Europa League and this summer's European Championships could be decided next week.
European football's governing body, UEFA will meet to discuss whether any of its three tournaments can go ahead "in the light of the ongoing developments in the spread of COVID-19 across Europe and the changing analysis of the World Health Organisation".
It added: "Discussions will include all domestic and European competitions, including UEFA EURO 2020."
The Champions League and Europa League could be suspended immediately, according to reports in Spain, after Real Madrid quarantined its players as a precaution after a member of the club's basketball team tested positive for coronavirus.
On Wednesday night it was revealed that Daniele Rugani of Italian champions Juventus had tested positive for coronavirus and he and other members of the squad were being isolated.
It is understood Europa League matches that had not already been postponed will be played tonight as planned.
The next two rounds of matches in La Liga have been postponed.
Real Madrid said in a statement it had quarantined both the football and basketball first teams because they share facilities.
Sunday's Australian Grand Prix, the opening race in the 2020 calendar, has been called off, the PA news agency has said, after the McLaren team pulled out because a member of staff tested positive for Covid-19.
F1 chiefs have already postponed next month's Chinese Grand Prix, while next weekend's Bahrain race is due to take place with empty grandstands.
Other postponements and cancellations
- The Champions League game between Manchester City and Real Madrid has been postponed
- French Ligue 1 games will be held behind closed doors or in front of no more than 1,000 spectators
- The top two divisions in Spanish football will be played without spectators until at least March 22
- All matches in the German Bundesliga this weekend will be played behind closed doors
- The International Olympic Committee remains fully committed to staging the Tokyo 2020 Games as scheduled this summer, but Donald Trump has said it should be called off.
- France v Ireland and Italy v England in the final round of the Six Nations have been postponed. Wales v Scotland goes ahead
- The opening four races of the MotoGP were called off
- Five tournaments on golf's European Tour have been postponed
- England cricketers have been told not to sign autographs or pose for selfies during their Test tour of Sri Lanka
- Cycling's UAE Tour was cancelled with two stages left
- The World Indoor Athletics Championships, due to take place in Nanjing in China this month, have been called off
- Snooker's £1million China Open, scheduled to start in Beijing at the end of March, has been cancelled
The Danish football federation expects the friendly against England at Wembley on 31 March will be cancelled, a fate also likely to befall England's friendly with Italy four days earlier.
A number of Scottish sporting events are set to be postponed or played behind closed doors after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon told MSPs she would recommend the cancellation of gatherings of more than 500 people from Monday.
That is a day after the biggest game in Scottish football as Celtic play Rangers in the Scottish Premiership.
The Football Association is following advice from the government regarding the staging of sporting events and therefore further postponements are likely.
In the US, Major League Soccer (MLS) has been suspended for 30 days and the National Basketball Association (NBA) season has been suspended indefinitely after a player tested positive.
The men's ATP tennis tour has been suspended for six weeks.
Sky's sports correspondent Martha Kelner writes:
Football in England - and most other sport - will almost certainly go ahead as normal this weekend despite widespread postponement and cancellation of major events around the world.
The Premier League is hoping to finish the season, behind closed doors or otherwise, as scheduled on Sunday 17 May and is taking its direction from government on how to proceed.
Despite Italy's Serie A being postponed until at least April, Spain's La Liga postponed for at least the next two weeks, the Dutch league halted and Germany and France's football being played behind closed doors, English football is largely business as usual for the time being.