Riga “Dinamo” has returned from Russia with Covid-19 patients

“sportacentrs.com” reports that at least five team members have been diagnosed with Covid-19, but the results of all team members’ tests are not yet known.

Ilze Arāja, a spokeswoman for the Center for Disease Prevention and Control (SPKC), emphasized that the epidemiological investigation was still ongoing, but five cases related to the mentioned hockey team had been confirmed. Several contacts have also been identified. Patients and contacts are in isolation.

The SPKC representative also did not currently specify whether the patients and contact persons were hockey players or other persons working in the team.

The number of contacts could not be stated at the time of Arāja, as the epidemiological investigation is still ongoing. It also explains where the infection took place and whether it could have happened in Russia.

Arāja explained in general that sick persons should be in isolation until the family doctor accepts that he is healthy and can go to the community. Contact persons should be kept in isolation for 14 days, but if symptoms occur and the Covid-19 test is positive, the contact person becomes ill and contact persons are identified.

“We are currently working with team management and identifying contacts. We provide them with information and they ask us. At the beginning, it is important to isolate the patients and identify the contacts of the patients, and then the investigation is looking for the source of infection,” Arāja said.

Juris Savickis, the chairman of the club’s board, has indicated in a conversation with the Internet portal that the club will not be in a hurry to publish information about the situation of Covid-19 in the team.

“Our team has handed over the analyzes, and now we are waiting for the results of these analyzes. Then we will make a decision. So far, nothing concrete has been confirmed for us.

Due to the Covid-19 epidemic, six games of the Continental Hockey League (KHL) club Nursultan “Baris” have already been postponed, including the match of “Baris” and Riga “Dinamo” on September 18 in Nursultan.

Also, the “Dinamo” game with Nizhny Novgorod “Neftehimik” scheduled for Riga did not take place before due to illness in the away team, as there was a change of game referees due to illness.

The next game, which was scheduled for Dinamo on September 22 with Nizhny Novgorod’s Torpedo, is currently under threat.

Information from the Center for Disease Prevention and Control (SPKC) on the Twitter platform shows that 17 new cases have been recorded in the last 24 hours.

“The information available to the SPKC shows that six patients have returned from abroad (Great Britain, Russia), three patients are contact persons, the conditions of infection are being clarified for eight patients. The epidemiological investigation is continuing,” information in the SPKC Twitter account.

With three points in five games, “Dinamo” takes the tenth place among 11 teams in the Western group this season.

In July, Latvian specialist Pēteris Skudra was appointed the head coach of “Dinamo”, but he is assisted by the head coach of the Russian Youth Hockey League (MHL) team “Rīga” last season, Raimonds Vilkoits and his assistant Aleksandrs Nizhivijs. Recently, the team led by Skudra was joined by Russian defender Dmitry Parhomenko, Belarusian goalkeeper specialist Andrei Kudin and video coach from Russia Igor Makarov.

Last season, “Dinamo” took the penultimate place in the Western Conference and in the entire league, not qualifying for the Gagarin Cup for the sixth year in a row.