Sports Events affected by Coronavirus

The Coronavirus COVID-19 is also putting sports events in check.

COVID-19 has not only affected people’s health but also the economy, the tourism industry and of course sporting events. 116 is the number of the countries affected by the coronavirus, including Singapore, China, South Korea, Iran, Japan, and Italy.

The latter being the country with the most confirmed deaths after China, adopted extreme measures such as the prohibition of assembly and circulation throughout the territory. Thus avoiding movements throughout the peninsula, with the exception of cases of need for work or health reasons.
On the last day of 2019, the first case of Coronavirus was reported in Wuhan, China. Since then, the disease now called COVID-19 has directly affected all social structures worldwide, including sports. The measure is taken for all professional competitions of large numbers of fans coming from “risk areas”

Some sporting events that have been affected because of this virus.

Cycling

The weekend in which the Internazionali d’Italia Series 2020 started with the Andorra test. An appointment of UCI C1 category that was to serve as a starting point for the season of many bikers, has been postponed following the guidelines of the Italian government. The test was not totally suspended and an attempt is made to find a new date on which it can be disputed. This is not the only race at risk.

Another race canceled in Italy is the UCI to be played in Verona. In Switzerland the restrictions for holding large events are also very hard and it is currently forbidden to hold events with more than 1,000 spectators until March 15. That could put the Swiss Bike Cupa test at Monte Tamaro on 21 and 22. at risk. If these restrictions were extended, the race could not be carried out.

Meanwhile, many eyes are focused on the Absa Cape Epic, one of the most international MTB events and with more influx of people at the level of participants and structure.

For now, no statement has been issued. It seems clear that, if carried out normally, additional prevention and safety measures are implemented in the camps. All this waiting to know how much longer this situation will last and how many more races it can affect.

The Tour of the Emirates was also canceled in the absence of two stages to finish the race. The only one of the World Tour in the Middle East. After two members of the UAE team tested positive for the coronavirus.

The UCI has decided not to proceed with the cancellation of any event in its calendar despite the outbreaks of the coronavirus, leaving such a decision in the hands of the health authorities of each affected region.

Golf:

The Women’s Professional Golf Association (LPGA) made the decision to cancel two major Asian tour championships in Thailand and the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore.

The European Tour also postpones the Maybank Championship tournaments of Malaysia and the Volvo China Open, and has canceled the Magical Kenya Open, which would take place at the Karen Country Club in Nairobi (Kenya), due to concerns about this contagious virus.

Motor:

The FIA suspended the e-Prix of China for the coronavirus outbreak in that country, a race to be held in the city of Sanya, until further notice, and postponed the Formula 1 GP of China, originally scheduled for April 19 in Shanghai. The F12020 season was expected to start at the Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne City’s Albert Park Circuit, but has also been recently canceled.

Following confirmation that a McLaren Racing Team member tested positive for COVID-19 and the team’s decision to withdraw from the Australian Grand Prix, Formula 1 and the FIA called a meeting with the other nine team directors and those discussions concluded with a majority opinion of the teams that the race should not go ahead

The start of the 2020 Moto GP season was scheduled for Sunday March 8 with the Qatar GP, but it will not finally be played and will be suspended. This decision has affected only the MotoGP category because the Moto2 and Moto3 riders are already in the Losail circuit. The next test, should be the Thai Grand Prix, will be played from October 2 to 4, which has caused the Aragon Grand Prix to have been advanced to September 25 to 27, to leave its place to that of Thailand. Also in serious danger The Grand Prix of the Americas, in Austin, United States, which had to be the start of the championship in 2020.

Marathon:

The Barcelona marathon is postponed to October 25. The decision to delay the celebration of the test, which was to be held on Sunday March 15 of the Catalan capital is not the first test of this type that has been affected by the coronavirus. The Rome marathon, which was scheduled for March 29, has been suspended, and the Paris marathon scheduled for April 5, will be held on October 18.

Tennis:

The Indian Wells (USA) tennis tournament, the first 1,000 Masters of the season, has also been suspended for fear of infection with coronavirus from participants and assistants.

Some relevant facts about the Olympic Games

• The alarm with the coronavirus continues to stalk the Olympic Games, the main competition in the sports world, which in principle will be held in Tokyo. There are many unknowns to reveal in the event that the decision to postpone is finally made. Although there are still many months left to control the virus long enough not to generate a danger to global health and that of athletes.
• The IOC already has the experience of the Zika de Rio 2016. This precedent did not cause any suspension, but it is not the first time in history that some Games are canceled or they change their location.
• Up to three times the Olympic Games have not been played throughout its history. All of them have been before 1950, so there are no recent examples of a circumstance like this.
• The two great wars were responsible for the suspension of the Olympic Games three times. The first time was in Berlin 1916. The stadium that was to host the event, the Deutschers Stadion, began to be erected in 1912 but in 1914 hostilities began and the Olympic flame never came to light.
• During the Second World War two editions of the Olympic Games were canceled. Helsinki was going to host the 1940 event that left Tokyo precisely because of a Civil War. The outbreak of this second great war caused the suspension of that edition. Circumstance that would be repeated in London 1944. On this occasion the IOC compensated the English capital and granted him the appointment of 1948.

What you should know about COVID-19 (Coronavirus)

The disease can spread from person to person through the droplets from the nose or mouth that are dismissed when an infected person coughs or exhales.
These droplets fall on the objects and surfaces surrounding the person, so that other people can get the COVID-19 virus if they touch these objects or surfaces and then touch their eyes, nose or mouth. They can also be spread if they inhale the droplets that a person with COVID-19 has spread while coughing or exhaling. Therefore, since the World Health Organization (WHO) a series of recommendations have been disseminated to protect against the coronavirus, including washing your hands frequently with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer or soap and water, avoiding public places With great influx or not making trips if you have a cough or fever.

It is likely that other sporting events will continue to be added to this list of suspensions or postponements. But losing calm in this situation is not an option.
The WHO and the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine (SEMI) have sent a reassuring message to the population, providing important data on this virus.

In situations like this, calm is often lost quite frequently, which is why these data tend to calm some people’s anxiety, for example, measles has caused a total of 2.1 million deaths between 2000 and 2020 in the world.

Coronavirus COVID-19 has been extended in almost two months to dozens of countries, as it is a respiratory virus demonstrates its extraordinary transmission capacity, but the truth is that it does not have a high mortality rate, that is, the coronavirus kills very Few people were infected.

It seems that the SARS-CoV2 can be transmitted quite easily. For now, the WHO estimates that the rate of infection (R0) of the virus is 1.4 to 2.5. This wants say that each infected person can in turn infect between 1.4 and 2.5 people.

To control an epidemic, R0 needs to decrease below 1. In terms of mortality, the World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that the coronavirus lethality rate is between 2 and 4% in Wuhan, and about 0.7% outside of Wuhan.

The intention of this article beyond disclosing information about the cancellation of different sporting events is to invite readers to remain calm, to be responsible with the information they consume and to follow the indications of the WHO and the health department of the country where he resides.

From TransSport we will be attentive to any information about sporting events that we can provide.