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Real Madrid's footballers have been quarantined. /AFP
Spain becomes the second top European football league to postpone whole rounds of fixtures as European sport struggles to fight off COVID-19.
The decision was made to suspend two rounds of La Liga matches on Thursday after the Real Madrid squad was placed into a 15-day quarantine.
This comes after a member of the Real Madrid basketball team, which shares its training complex with the football team, tested positive for COVID-19.
It was announced on Tuesday that the next two rounds of La Liga fixtures would be played behind closed doors, but the news of Real Madrid's quarantine meant they needed to "continue to the next phase of the protocol of action against COVID-19," according to a La Liga statement.
This postponement came days after Italy announced it was to cancel all sporting fixtures, including Serie A games, until at least 3 April.
Real Madrid's palyers have been placed into quarantine for 15 days after a member of their basketball team contracted the virus /AFP
Positive results
Since then, it has been announced that two Serie A players have tested positive for the virus; Daniele Rugani of Juventus and Manolo Gabbiadini of Sampdoria. As well as this, Inter Milan has asked all its players to remain at home until further notice.
The English Premier League has also been affected, with the football fixture between Arsenal and Manchester City, due to take place on Wednesday, being canceled after several Arsenal players and staff had to self-isolate following a meeting with Olympiakos chairman, Evangelos Marinakis, who has since tested positive for the virus, at a match 13 days prior.
Leicester City's players have all been tested for the virus, following the news that three of their players were showing signs of having "coronavirus symptoms."
The Bundesliga and other German football leagues will play most of their games behind closed doors, but these matches are also in doubt after Hannover 69 defender Timo Huber tested positive for the virus.
Italy and Juventus defender Daniele Rugani (above) is one of several players to have tested positive for COVID-19 /AFP
What more can be done?
Simon Chadwick, director, Centre for the Eurasion Sport Industry, Emlyon Business school, explained how if you play games behind closed doors, players are still at a risk of transmission on the field as well, as are the large numbers of fans who congregate outside grounds.
The Six Nations rugby tournament continues to be affected by COVID-19. Only the Wales vs Scotland game remains on this weekend after the matches between Italy and England and France and Ireland were both postponed.
Other sports such as tennis, which has canceled all ATP events for six weeks, and Formula One have also been affected.
F1 team McLaren has decided to pull out of the season-opening Australian grand prix after one of its staff members tested positive for the virus. The race is scheduled to still go ahead, though.
The McLaren Formula One team has pulled out of the season opening Australian Grand Prix /AFP
Global events in doubt
The Euro 2020 football tournament and the Tokyo Olympic Games remain in doubt as COVID-19 continues to spread worldwide.
The european football body Uefa has announced it will hold a meeting on 17 March to discuss European football's response to the outbreak. Discussions will include all domestic and international competitions as well as Euro 2020.
Athletics' ruling body, the IAAF, met on Thursday to discuss its battle plan for Tokyo 2020. It also spoke with countries most affected so far by the virus, including China and Italy.
Chadwick said it is very unlikely the Olympics will be canceled: "The IOC will take until the very, very last minute before they make a decision, because as you might imagine, there is a huge amount of stay at stake, multi-billion dollars' worth of contracts and deals and relationships, obviously training schedules for professional athletes that have been in place for a year or more."
