COVID-19: Five more players test positive in Pumas camp

NEWS: Argentina’s preparations for the 2020 Rugby Championship have been thrown into disarray by six players testing positive for coronavirus in recent days.

Loose forward Javier Ortega Desio was the first player called up to a pre-tournament training camp to test positive on Sunday.

And now the Argentine Rugby Union (UAR) revealed five more players tested this week had also returned positive results.

Loose forward Tomas Lezana, backs Santiago Carreras and Santiago Chocobares, and front-row pair Jose Luis Gonzalez and Federico Wegrzyn will now join Ortega Desio in quarantine for two weeks.

Those last five players are “asymptomatic”, the UAR said in a statement.

“They were isolated and will stay that way for two weeks, with specialist monitoring and the support of the UAR medical area.”

All 44 players involved in the training camp were tested on Monday and Tuesday.

The positives come just two weeks since the Argentine government authorized the Pumas to resume training ahead of the Rugby Championship.

All the players had fulfilled health ministry protocols surrounding training sessions.

Ortega Desio was unable to join in as he was already displaying symptoms prior to his positive test.

On Tuesday, Argentina registered a daily record of 8 700 new coronavirus cases taking its total over 360 000. Of those, 7 500 have died.

Argentina are due to take on New Zealand, Australia and world champions South Africa in the annual Southern Hemisphere international tournament between November 7 and December 12.