Flamengo players pass tests for coronavirus

The players of the Flamengo, Liga and Copa Libertadores champion in 2019, were subjected to medical tests to detect if anyone has coronavirus, after the vice president and a club worker presented symptoms of the disease.

Team Sources Rio de Janeiro confirmed that the medical services also carried out clinical examinations of the technical commission led by the Portuguese coach, Jorge Jesus, as well as all employees of the football department.

“Flamengo is taking some precautions,” said the aforementioned sources, who stressed that these are “preventive” tests.

The most popular club in Brazil decided to check the health status of players and coaches, after the entity's vice president, Mauricio Gomes de Mattos, and an employee of the marketing department had symptoms of COVID-19. Both were waiting for the final result of the tests for coronovirus. Gomes de Mattos is admitted to a Brasilia hospital and awaits the result of a second analysis, according to local press.

Last week, he joined the black-red delegation that went to Barranquilla, in Colombia, to follow Flamengo's victory over Junior (1-2) on the first day of group A of the Copa Libertadores. Before, he was with the club president, Rodolfo Landim, and the vice president of marketing, Gustavo Oliveira, in Madrid.

The South American Football Confederation (Conmebol) announced on Thursday the suspension of the Copa Libertadores matches scheduled between March 15-21 to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Brazil has confirmed until this Friday 98 cases of coronavirus, most of them in the state of Sao Paulo (56), the most populous and richest in the country, and investigates about 1,500 considered “suspects”, although without registering deaths. The World Health Organization (WHO) this week declared the coronavirus outbreak a “pandemic.”