SAO PAULO – Brazil’s Ministry of Health has documented 41 cases of COVID-19 linked to the Copa América soccer tournament, including 31 players or team staff and ten people hired for the event.
In a statement, the ministry said all employees who tested positive were in Brasilia, where Brazil kicked off the tournament with a 3-0 win over Venezuela on Sunday.
The Venezuelan team has been hit hard after the discovery of nearly a dozen cases of COVID-19 including players or staff.
At the last minute, Brazil took over as host country for the continental championship, which brings together ten nations, despite the country having the second highest total of coronavirus-related deaths in the world, with nearly 490,000 victims.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro offered to host the competition just two weeks ago, after tournament officials decided to no longer hold the tournament in Argentina and Colombia.
Bolsonaro has criticized policies focused on physical distancing and argues that the economic impact of containment measures claims more lives than the virus.
According to the Brazilian Ministry of Health, 2,927 COVID-19 tests have been carried out as part of the Copa América so far.
Earlier Monday, a fitness coach from the Peru team tested positive for COVID-19 in Lima. Nestor Bonillo will not be traveling to Brazil. It was not possible to know if he was among the cases related to the tournament and confirmed by the Ministry of Health of Brazil.
Over the weekend, there were a series of COVID-19 cases linked to teams in Brazil for the tournament.
Colombia team officials have said technical assistant Pablo Roman and physiotherapist Carlos Entrena have contracted the virus.
Hours earlier, Venezuela announced that they had added 15 players to their squad at the last minute after eight players scored positive when they arrived in Brazil. Three Venezuelan instructor staff were also infected.
The Bolivian Football Federation has revealed that three players and an instructor have contracted the virus.
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