A Serie C player in Italy has been diagnosed with the coronavirus, which makes him the first professional footballer to be diagnosed with the disease in the country, as per reports.
According to the Italian newspaper, La Nazione report’s a 22-year-old footballer, who has not been named but plays for US Pianese ASD, has been diagnosed with the coronavirus, officially named COVID-19 by the World Health Organization.
Pianese ASD plays in the third division of Italian football and is based in the commune of Piancastagnaio located in the Tuscany region of western Italy.
The report claims the footballer ‘put himself in voluntary quarantine’ before the meds decided to test him for the virus which has now reportedly come back as positive for COVID-19.
However, there have been no reports of other team members of the 22-year-old of being tested positive since his diagnosis.
As per reports, the footballer ‘had a fever and felt unwell’ before the start of a march after which he opted to put himself in quarantine.
And as a result, He did not play in Pianese’s 1-0 loss to Juventus U-23 in a Serie C match on Sunday 23rd February.
As per reports, the infected footballer returned to Piancastagnaio ‘independently’. Despite the diagnosis, the player’s status is ‘good: he is OK but he tested positive,’ according to La Nazione.
This news comes amid Several Serie A matches were cancelled due to the outbreak of coronavirus in the country after which several matches are being played behind closed doors, including the match between Serie A giants Juventus and Inter Milan which is scheduled to be played on Sunday, March 1.
The COVID-19 has killed 2,592 in China and has infected 77,150. The COVID-19 was first detected in Wuhan, China’s Hubei Province, in late December 2019 and has since spread to more than 20 other countries.
Meanwhile, Italy has 447 cases of COVID-19 which has caused the death of 14 people. There are reportedly 82,455 worldwide cases which have lead to 2,811 deaths. The rise in Italy, the main focus of infection in Europe, represents a 25% surge in 24 hours.
On Wednesday, the World Health Organization said that for the first time the virus was spreading faster outside China, where it originated.
