COVID-19

TOKYO: A police officer helping with Japan's Olympic Torch relay has become the first participant in the event to be diagnosed with COVID-19, organisers said on Thursday (Apr 22). A man in his 30s tested positive for the virus after working on the relay in Kagawa prefecture on Japan's southern island of Shikoku, Tokyo 2020 said in a statement. The officer was guiding traffic in the town of Naoshima on Saturday and came down with a fever on Sunday, the Asahi Newspaper reported,

SINGAPORE: From this weekend, COVID-19 testing will not be required for up to 250 fans attending Singapore Premier League (SPL) matches, said the Football Association of Singapore (FAS) on Wednesday (Apr 21). This comes after conditional entry was implemented on Apr 10, the first-time fans could watch live matches since the final day of the 2020 season in December. Explaining the ticketing process in a media release, FAS said fans will need to buy a physical ticket from dedicated booths at match venues,

Djokovic was among several players to test positive after last year's event, which was held in front of thousands of fans with no social distancing. World number one Novak Djokovic will relaunch the Serbia Open tournament in Belgrade on Monday, less than a year after a charity event he organised in the city ended in fiasco. Djokovic was among several players to test positive after last year's event, which was held in front of thousands of fans with no social distancing. Organisers insist

DOHA: Qatar is in talks with coronavirus vaccine makers to ensure all fans attending the 2022 World Cup in the country have been vaccinated, the foreign minister said Friday (Apr 16). The Gulf nation is facing a resurgence of virus cases and deaths despite progress in its mass vaccination programme, forcing authorities to impose a nationwide lockdown. "We have been negotiating and talking to the vaccination providers on how we can make sure that everyone attending the World Cup is vaccinated," Foreign Minister

Japan's inability to contain the COVID-19 pandemic means that plans to hold the Olympics in Tokyo should be reconsidered, health experts wrote in a commentary. The 2020 Games, already delayed by one year, are due to begin in fewer than 100 days, even as Japan expands quasi-emergency measures to halt a fourth wave of infections. Japan has exhibited "poor performance" in containing virus transmission, along with limited testing capacity and a slow vaccination rollout, according to the commentary published in the British Medical

Rafa Nadal said he was not worried about contracting COVID-19 despite having trained with Daniil Medvedev, who was forced to withdraw from this week’s Monte Carlo Masters after a positive test. Russian Medvedev, who was seeded second at the ATP Masters 1000 event, was put in isolation on Tuesday, a day after he practised with world number three Nadal. “I was not worried because I practised with him, but I was never close to him,” Nadal said after his second-round victory over Federico

TOKYO: Holding the postponed Tokyo Olympics this summer will be "really difficult" given a spike in COVID-19 infections across Japan, the head of the Tokyo Medical Association has warned. Haruo Ozaki sounded the alarm as rising daily cases prompt new coronavirus restrictions in Tokyo and elsewhere in Japan. "If infections spread further, in reality it would be difficult to hold the Olympics in its regular form with athletes coming from various countries, even if the Games are held with no spectators," the Sports

Spain and Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos faced a new setback in a season littered with injury problems when his club said on Tuesday he had tested positive for COVID-19. Ramos has been nursing a calf injury since April 1 which led him to miss his side’s 3-1 win over Liverpool in their Champions League quarter-final first leg and Saturday’s 2-1 victory over rivals Barcelona in La Liga. The central defender, 35, who underwent knee surgery in February, had already been ruled out

MUMBAI: India cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar said on Thursday (Apr 8) that he has been released from hospital a week after he was admitted when he contracted COVID-19, but he will remain in isolation at home. Tendulkar, who turns 48 later this month, was previously quarantining at home after testing positive following mild symptoms. "I have just come home from the hospital and will remain isolated while continuing to rest and recuperate. I would like to thank everyone for all the good wishes

After thinking hard about hanging on another year to compete at the COVID-19 delayed Tokyo Olympics, four-time gold medallist gymnast Simone Biles said on Wednesday she just might stick around for another three years for the 2024 Paris Summer Games. Winner of the coveted all-around crown along with team, floor and vault gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Biles had given every indication that the Tokyo Games would be her competitive swan song. But the 24-year-old American hinted during her appearance at the

The NBA expects to have arenas packed full of fans when the 2021-22 season begins, with the chances of it happening increased by a deal with a COVID-19 screening company, ESPN reported. With vaccine distribution in full swing, the NBA will look toward the airport screening company Clear to provide COVID-19 screening technology at home venues around the league. Each team will be allowed to determine how the screening technology will best serve its fan base. The league will not require teams to

Manchester City posted net losses of 126 million pounds ($175 million) for the 2019-20 season after their finances took a huge hit from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Premier League club said on Tuesday. Revenue dropped 11% to 478.4 million pounds during the 2019-20 campaign, which was halted in March and resumed behind closed doors three months later. The losses were a result of a decline in matchday and broadcasting revenues, while the late finish to last season meant revenue from almost a quarter

Royal Challengers Bangalore's Australian all-rounder Daniel Sams on Wednesday tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of the IPL starting on April 9 here, but opener Devdutt Padikkal recovered from the dreaded infection to join the side. According to a statement issued by RCB on its Twitter handle, the 28-year-old all-rounder arrived in India on April 3 and had a negative COVID-19 test report at that time. RCB will take on defending champions Mumbai Indians in the tournament-opener on Friday. "His (Sams') report from the

Baseball fans packed the stands of Globe Life Field on Monday after the Texas Rangers opened their doors to 100% capacity, making the game the first North American sporting event without attendance restrictions since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The team said it was a sellout, with 38,238 in attendance under an open roof on a sunny day at the Arlington, Texas, stadium, the only one in baseball to allow full capacity after Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordered the state to fully

North Korea has announced it will not take part in the Tokyo Olympics this year, saying the decision is to protect its athletes from Covid-19. The decision puts an end to South Korea's hopes of using the Games to engage with the North amid stalled cross-border talks. In 2018, both sides entered a joint team at the Winter Olympics which led to a series of historic summits. Pyongyang says it has no cases of the virus but experts say this is unlikely. The

NEW YORK - Major League Baseball (MLB) postponed the remainder of a series between the Washington Nationals and New York Mets on Friday due to COVID-19, an early sign of trouble as the league navigates a new season amid the pandemic. The Nationals’ home opener against the Mets was put on hold Thursday, a day after the Washington team reported one player had tested positive for COVID-19. Later on Thursday, the team said at least two additional individuals had come back with positive

TOKYO: Osaka prefectural governor Hirofumi Yoshimura said on Thursday (Apr 1) the Olympic torch relay in the city of Osaka should be cancelled amid a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases. Yoshimura had sounded the alarm the previous day that a jump in new coronavirus cases in Osaka was raising fears the western Japanese metropolis was entering a fresh wave of infections that could become its worst yet. The prefecture, which had just emerged from a COVID-19 state of emergency a month ago, reported

LONDON: The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will look at the possibility of using COVID-19 passports to allow fans to return to stadiums for the upcoming domestic season, the governing body's managing director of county cricket Neil Snowball said. The new County Championship season will begin on ApR 8 with games initially being played without spectators. May 17 has been pencilled in as the date when the largest outdoor seated venues can allow up to 10,000 people or a quarter of capacity,

Players at the Miami Open on Monday expressed little love for COVID-19 vaccines, with many saying they want more information before getting a shot. Seventh seeded Aryna Sabalenka expressed more concern over the vaccine than her quarterfinal opponent number one Ash Barty while fifth seed Elina Svitolina said she was inclined to take the advice of friends and wait. “So far I don’t really trust it,” Sabalenka told reporters following her fourth round 6-1 6-2 mugging of Marketa Vondrousova. “It’s tough to say,

DUBAI - Saudi Arabia said on Monday it would allow people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 to attend sporting events at stadiums at a capacity of 40% starting May 17 as the kingdom pushes its immunisation campaign. The sports ministry said in a statement on state media that as an exception, vaccinated fans would be allowed to attend an Asia World Cup qualifiers match between the Saudi and Palestinian teams on Tuesday in the capital Riyadh. Admittance will be allowed for people