CHAN 2020: Zimbabwe Set To Resume Training After COVID-19 Outbreak

Zimbabwe national soccer team, The Warriors, will resume their residential training Saturday as preparations for the Africa Nations Championship finals continue.

This will be the first training session in ten days following a Covid-19 outbreak in which nine members of the team tested positive for the deadly virus. The Warriors had taken a Christmas break and returned to camp on 28 December, with all the players and technical staff undergoing fresh mandatory tests.

It emerged that nine of the players have returned positive results and were quickly isolated from the rest of the squad.

Retests were taken on Friday and the results were expected to come out early on Saturday morning, the results that will determine whether the Wednesday’s trip for Cameroon can go ahead.

In the meantime, the team’s training ground, National Sports Stadium, will reopen after being closed for deep cleaning.

Zimbabwe national teams general manager, Wellington Mpandare, told reporters on Friday that the government had cleared the Warriors to go back to training.

“Covid-19 tests for the members who tested positive for the virus the last time out will be carried out today (Friday) with results expected in the evening or tomorrow (Saturday),” said Mpandare as per Nehanda Radio.

“Like we have indicated earlier, those who retain positive results will be replaced by the players who are on standby.

“We are also running around so that we can resume training tomorrow (today) afternoon. We were waiting for both clearance from the Government as well as the days to conduct tests for those who tested positive the last time out.

“Those who tested negative on December 28 last year have also been tested again and they have retained negative results.

“So once we finalise on the tests, we will then start training. We will also conduct tests on January 12 before our departure on Wednesday next week. At the moment, those are the two things we are seized with, that is training resumption and testing of the players.”

Zimbabwe are in Group A with hosts Cameroon, Burkina Faso and Mali. They are scheduled to face the Indomitable Lions in the tournament opener on 16 January.