The spread of the 2019 coronavirus is something that has shaken up the start of 2020. The virus that is known to have originated in Wuhan, China, has now affected over 88,000 people. It’s also reported that the death toll related to this virus has now reached over 3,000.
There are now many countries affected by this including Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, and the United States. This has already spread throughout the world and all countries are trying to slow down the spread of this virus as scientists and experts are still developing a vaccine that can combat this.
Many industries are surely affected by this and the sports industry is no exception. Sporting events worldwide are either canceled or postponed. Leagues are closely monitoring the situation and are prepared to make necessary changes to the scheduled tournaments.
Fans are mainly advised to just stay home instead of seeing live games and matches if they are feeling unwell. The players, on the other hand, are advised to be more vigilant when it comes to interacting with other people and the fans.
Luckily for many fans, real-time broadcasts of almost any other sports can now be easily accessed online. They don’t even need to travel anymore just so they can watch and wager on the sports that they love.
Precautionary measures are important with everything that’s happening right now. You can always just look for streaming sites and online betting services to avoid crowds that can possibly affect your health. If you’re someone who enjoys betting, then just stay at home and wager online. You can check BetEnemy that has information on promos like the Bet9ja promotion code and the best online bookies out there.
In the US, the National Basketball Association (NBA) has recently released a memo to its employees and players. The players are advised to avoid giving fans and the audience high fives. Instead of high-fives, the memo said that fist bumps are safer. They are also advised to avoid using the pens or makers of fans who would be asking for autographs. The fans are also advised to engage in safe hygiene practices and to just stay home if they feel unwell. There are still no canceled NBA games so far.
The MLB has established a task force that will be dealing with concerns and issues related to the coronavirus. The league still has no plans on canceling any events nor banning fans from attending games. The memo released by the league also advises players to avoid shaking hands with fans and using borrowed pens and markers for autographs. The MLB also wants to make sure that all players have already received this year’s flu vaccine and other needed vaccinations.
Football leagues are somehow doing the same practices but many football events outside the US are already canceled or postponed. The Newcastle United staff players have a daily ritual of shaking the hands of each other as a way of greeting but due to medical advice, the staff and players have already stopped doing this. Fist bumps are also safer, according to the medical advice they got.
FIFA’s president, Gianni Infantino, has also recently talked about this issue. He told football organizations not to panic when it comes to taking measures to avoid or prevent the spread of the virus. He said the league is also closely monitoring the situation and is hoping that matches will still push through.
He was also asked about having to go through matches without spectators. He said, “I don’t think it is sustainable, but that is my personal view. Every competition organizer has to decide what is best for him. In the short term, it can be a solution in order to move on but you cannot imagine a few months of competition with several matches played behind closed doors.”
Regarding whether the friendlies scheduled a few weeks from now will push through, Infantino only said, “I wouldn’t exclude anything at this moment. I hope we will never have to get into this direction. I think it will be difficult in any case to make a global ban because the situation is really different.”
Meanwhile, Switzerland’s government has already issued an order to cancel any events, including sporting events, that would involve at least 1,000 people to avoid the spread of the virus. The ban of such events will last until March 15, according to the country’s cabinet.
Italy, on the other hand, has already canceled all sporting events until April 3. This includes the Six Nations match against England and Ireland.