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Benfica President tests positive for COVID-19

Xinhua English

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LISBON, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Benfica president Luis Filipe Vieira is infected with the COVID-19 but "asymptomatic", the Portuguese football club said on its official website on Tuesday.

As he is over 65 years old, the 71-year-old Vieira is part of the "risk group" of COVID-19 defined by the Portuguese health authorities.

Benfica is going through a coronavirus outbreak and has detected in the last hours 17 new cases of COVID-19 among players, technical staff and staff.

Even with the active outbreak of the infectious disease, the Portuguese club has decided that it will continue to appear in the competitions and will not ask for the postponement of its next games.

The Directorate-General for Health (DGS) of Portugal determined that those infected should remain in isolation, but that the "decision regarding the rest of the squad is the responsibility of sports clubs".

Portugal registers its worst moment since the beginning of the pandemic, becoming No. 1 country in the world with the highest number of new cases of infection per million inhabitants, according to several websites that provide statistical monitoring of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As the world is struggling to contain the pandemic, vaccination is underway in some countries with the already-authorized coronavirus vaccines, including Portugal.

Meanwhile, 236 candidate vaccines are still being developed worldwide -- 63 of them in clinical trials -- in countries including China, Germany, Russia, Britain and the United States, according to information released by WHO on Jan. 12. Enditem

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