High Covid rate in Bundesliga shocks physicians

Berlin, May 30 (SocialNews.XYZ) Sports physician Wilhelm Bloch has expressed surprise with the "relatively high" number of coronavirus infections in the past Bundesliga season.

According to a report published by the Deutschlandfunk broadcaster late Saturday, the 18 top-flight clubs made public the infection of 69 players last season.

That would be about 13 per cent of all Bundesliga players and a higher average than in the comparable group of the total population in Germany, reports DPA.

"Compared to the number of footballers in the Bundesliga, this is a relatively high percentage of players who have been infected. That simply has to be said," Bloch said.

The physician, however, pointed out that a bubble in which the players had no contact with the outside world whatsoever wouldn't have been viable over a season.

According to the German football league (DFL), there were 217 coronavirus infections among players, coaches and support staff among Bundesliga and second division clubs in the past season.

"In two cases, hospitalisation of players was necessary, but fortunately in each case this was followed by discharge after a few days," said Germany national team doctor Tim Meyer, who also heads the task force "sports medicine/special match operations" of professional football.

Due to the high number and frequency of the tests, there was hardly an unreported infection, Meyer emphasised.

"If we put the 217 positive cases in relation to about 1,700 regularly tested people, the incidence is in the order of magnitude of the general population, if we take into account the number of unreported cases found in studies," he said.

Source: IANS