A covid-19 outbreak on chili left this wednesday without 34 players to Colo Colo and the Catholic University, as announced by the health authorities. The Ministry of Health determined that the Albos, who are first in the national tournament, will have to separate 19 of their players because they are close contacts of positive cases, while the Crusaders will have to isolate 15.
In total, Colo Colo will send 44 people from its staff to isolation, counting other members of the staff, so this Thursday will have to play against Audax Italiano with a youth team. The 15 players from the Universidad Católica must quarantine as they are considered close contacts due to the treatment they had with the Colo Colo footballers in last Sunday’s game.
According to the authorities, the players could return to the stadiums after five days from the contact, only after undergoing another PCR test and in case of not being a delta variant. With this forecast, the Catholic University could count on its players for next Sunday’s match against O’Higgins on the twenty-ninth day of the national tournament.
The contagions occurred just as the country was experiencing an outbreak of cases after three months with the pandemic under control. In the last day, the national rate of positivity (the percentage of positives of the total PCR performed) exceeded the 3% barrier for the second consecutive day, although the authorities insist that hospital pressure remains under control. To try to stop the infections, the health authorities announced on Monday a reduction in capacity in the capital and intensified the vaccination campaign for the booster dose.
