Copa America 2021: Chile midfielder Arturo Vidal admitted to hospital after testing positive for Covid-19 – Inter Milan’s Chilean midfielder Arturo Vidal is receiving treatment at a hospital after testing positive for COVID-19, his national team said Monday. The diagnosis means the 34-year-old will miss Thursday’s World Cup qualifier between Chile and Argentina.
“The medical team of the Chilean national team emphasizes that at the request of the player Arturo Vidal, it is announced that he has been diagnosed positive for Covid,” the national team said on its official website. It said no other players in the squad had tested positive for the virus.
Arturo Vidal was initially hospitalised with severe tonsilitis, but tested positive for coronavirus on Monday, the team statement said.
The former Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Juventus star, Arturo Vidal, who was vaccinated against the virus on Friday, will now miss the Qatar 2022 World Cup qualifier with Argentina and another qualifier against Bolivia next week in Santiago.
COVID-19 infections in Chile remain above 6,000 daily cases and the health system is overwhelmed. The virus has killed more than 29,000 people out of a total 1.3 million cases in the country.
Copa America 2021: As for Copa America 2021, the CONMEBOL said that Brazil will host the tournament after two joint hosts Argentina and Colombia were ruled out due to different reasons.
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With Argentina and Colombia unable to fulfil their commitments as hosts of the 2021 Copa America due to Covid-19 concerns in the region, Brazil has stepped in to stage elite continental competition. Copa America is scheduled to be played between June 13 and July 10.
Earlier, Copa America was without a host country only two weeks before kickoff after South American football federation CONMEBOL ruled out Argentina amid the rise of COVID-19 cases in the country. Colombia was dropped as a tournament co-host on May 20 amid a wave of protests against President Ivan Duque.
Argentina is facing a surge of coronavirus infections, with strict lockdown measures imposed last weekend amid a seven-day average of 35,000 cases and 500 deaths.
