A player in the third division of Italian football has become the
first professional footballer to be diagnosed with the deadly
coronavirus.
According to Italian newspaper, La Nazione, the affected player is a 22-years-old who plays for US Pianese ASD.
A statement on Thursday read: ‘Two new suspected positive cases of
Coronavirus in Tuscany. Both are awaiting confirmation by the Higher
Institute of Health.
‘One is a 22-year-old man in the Siena province, a Pianese player,
who last Saturday had symptoms in a hotel in Alessandria, where he was
training with the team ahead of Sunday’s game [at Juventus U-23s].’
While the identity of the player is yet to be disclosed, his club has
taken measures to prevent it from passing to the player’s teammates by
canceling the team’s training session.
The player was said to have developed flu-like symptoms on Saturday
and was removed from first-team duties as a precaution. He later put
himself into voluntary quarantine before testing positive for COVID-19.