On Monday, the Ministry of Health announced the confirmation of 41 Covid-19 cases linked to the Copa America. According to the folder, 2,927 tests were conducted till Sunday (June 13), with 31 cases confirmed between players and delegation members, as well as 10 service providers employed for the event.
Genetic sequencing tests are also being done out to investigate variants in confirmed cases, according to the files. Within two weeks, the results should be available.
“On June 13, there were 41 confirmed instances of Covid-19, 31 of which were among players and delegation members, and ten service providers had been contracted for the tournament. In Brasil (DF), all cases of service providers were confirmed “, according to an excerpt from a statement issued by the Ministry of Health.
The first teams revealed to have contacted the Covid-19 were from Venezuela. The team arrived in Braslia on Thursday night for their first match against Brazil, and preliminary examinations revealed 13 cases among the players.
Conmebol changed the Copa América rules in response to the Covid-19 epidemic in Venezuela, removing the five-player replace restriction from the roster. Previously, because to the virus, each club could only change five players in the team. As a result of the change, Venezuela has invited 15 new players in their ranks.
Covid-19 was discovered in Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia, in addition to Venezuela.
All of the latest developments point to the initial resistance from the Brazil players and fans, who did not fully want the competition to hold in their own backyard. However, if current numbers should persist/increase further, there is a chance that the Copa America could come at major risk of being disrupted.
