Cristiano Ronaldo and every other footballer in the Italian Serie A may be tested for coronavirus before the season which has been suspended since March 9 resumes.
Italy was the worst-hit country in terms of the number of people who have died due to the coronavirus pandemic. As at Sunday, the United States has recorded a total death toll of 20,071, to surpass Italy’s death toll of 19,468.
The worldwide death toll is now over 107,000, with the number of infections worldwide over 1.7 million, including more than 396,000 recovered patients.
Due to all these numbers, almost all social activities across the world have been halted including football. Besides that, football stars, like other people, have been mandated to self-isolate in order to contain the spread of the virus.
Despite the self-isolation, the footballers and backroom staff have been subjected to, Italian Football Federation hopes to test players for coronavirus in May before season restart.
Italian Serie A will be completed
However, the Italian Serie A which still have 12 matches and 4 outstanding fixtures, is yet to have a specific date of resumption as government authorities including the World Health Organization, are still battling to contain the pandemic.
“As soon as the conditions are right, we’ll finish the championship,” Italian football federation president Gabriele Gravina told Sky Sports Italia.
“Soon, there will be a meeting. We will establish the procedure which we will then communicate.
“We will start, I hope, at the beginning of May with tests to ensure that players are negative and training can follow.
“Will we play in the summer? We don’t have a deadline but the idea is to finish the championships.”
Serie A may resume at the end of April
Just like other major leagues, everything is still under probability in the Italian Serie A and events in the coming weeks will determine the fate of the league going forward.
But the Italian FA president is hoping that the league will resume at the end of April but players will not begin training together until they are tested for the virus.
“We will begin, I hope by the end of April, with checks to ensure the virus negativity of the players, followed by the second phase, the resumption of training.
“We do not have a deadline, we intend to adapt to the instructions of FIFA and UEFA and to the directives of our scientific committee.
“But the seasons will be completed, that is for certain, maybe even by the end of July. Cancelling the competitions would mean negative repercussions in the world of football and beyond.”
