Bucharest: Romanian professional athletes, upon entering the training camps, will have to present a medical certificate confirming a negative test for COVID-19, President of the Romanian Olympic and Sports Committee Mihai Covaliu has stressed.
Covaliu on Monday hailed the announcement of President Klaus Iohannis regarding the resumption of sports camps after May 14, the last day of the state of emergency in the country, but specifying “it is a condition that when entering a base, performance athletes will need that certificate to prove they have been tested (negative) for COVID-19,” reports Xinhua news agency.
The head of state announced earlier in the day that high-performance athletes will be able to resume training camps starting May 15, but only “in very special conditions, which will be detailed by specialists,” while also stating that they will not start sports competitions until “after a sufficiently long period of training.”
Iohannis specifically pointed out that the sports facilities would not reopen for amateurs for now.
“I kept in touch all the time with… presidents of federations. Everyone wants to resume their activity, but in conditions of maximum security,” Covaliu said, explaining that “if a case occurs, obviously all activities will be interrupted and suspended again, so we want to prevent such situation.”
According to him, athletes from some disciplines are more impatient, because it is about their specialisation such as swimming, rowing, kayaking, which need water.
“Football will have to be a good example of how team sports should be resumed. It’s clear they’ll be the first to start,” added the official.
None of Romania’s national and Olympic teams has made centralised preparations since mid-March when the Ministry of Youth and Sports ordered to stop all sports training and competitions amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Romania entered on March 16 a one-month state of emergency, which was subsequently extended by one more month to May 14.
The eastern European country reported 431 and 349 new confirmed cases of COVID-19 on Sunday and Monday, respectively. The total number of confirmed cases has reached 13,512 with 803 fatalities.
