The midfielder Arturo Vidal tested positive for covid-19 and is hospitalized, which is why he was out of the game that Chile will play on Thursday against Argentina for the World Cup, the Red medical body reported on Monday night.
“The Medical Corps of the Chilean National Team indicates that at the request of the player Arturo Vidal, it is reported that he was diagnosed in the daily preventive examination carried out today, Monday, May 31, with positive covid,” said the statement released on the website of the Chilean team.
Earlier, the medical team reported that Vidal was not training and was separated from the rest of the squad because he had “a febrile syndrome due to dehydrated pleaceous tonsillitis.”
But the new statement indicated that the Inter Milan midfielder “has been hospitalized and isolated from the group for more than 72 hours, in a preventive measure indicated by the medical team, due to the presentation of severe pleural tonsillitis”, and that the PCR tests that had been performed the last three days had come back negative.
The 34-year-old midfielder was left out of the Chilean squad that on Tuesday must travel to the city of Santiago del Estero, where he will play against Argentina in the resumption of the South American qualifiers for the Qatar-2022 World Cup.
Vidal, who was vaccinated against covid-19 on Friday with other players from the Chilean squad, will also not be in the game that five days later La Roja will play at home against Bolivia in Santiago.
– Spread from a friend –
Vidal arrived in Chile last week to join La Roja after recovering from an injury that left him out of the last stage of the Italian tournament, which was ultimately won by Inter.
Known for his relaxed life, Vidal was seen in a restaurant and also visiting his horses at an equestrian club in Santiago, one of his greatest hobbies, taking advantage of the fact that the selected was not in the health bubble that he just entered this Monday.
“Unfortunately in today’s control I found out that I was positive for covid, as a result of a friend who, being without symptoms, tested positive in a preventive control,” detailed the ‘King Arturo’ in his official Twitter account.
“This time I will not be able to be on the court, but I will accompany my teammates with all my strength,” he added.
The contagion of Vidal occurs when Chile is going through a delicate situation due to the pandemic that does not give truce, despite the fact that it has carried out a successful vaccination process that since February 3 has been carried out en masse.
More than 7.9 million people have been vaccinated with two doses, 52.3% of the target population that exceeds the 15 million people that according to the government must be vaccinated before June 30.
Despite the good rate of vaccination, daily infections by covid-19 in Chile remain above 6,000 cases, with a positivity greater than 10%, with hospital care at full capacity, and a relaxation of the population regarding sanitary restrictions after a permit issued by the government that gives greater mobility to those vaccinated with two doses.
After a 14-month pandemic, covid-19 has caused 1.3 million infections in Chile and more than 29,000 deaths.
– The rest of the campus … negative –
The medical team of the selection also reported that the rest of those selected “are PCR negative today, in accordance with health protocols.”
The campus will be subjected to new PCR “in order to minimize the risks of other positive cases in the current pandemic condition,” the note added.
Chile has four points and occupies sixth place in the South American qualifiers for the Qatar-2022 World Cup, for now outside the classification zone. AFP (HN)