Africa-Press – Lesotho. Eleven Matlama players tested positive for Covid-19 following an urge for testing of football players by the Lesotho Football Association (LeFA). Matlama like any other premier
league teams underwent the process of testing its players, technical team and Executive committee as the teams were instructed to undergo Covid-19 testing
before the next round of matches commence. LeFA made this request as to collect the Covid-19 medical reports from elite teams so that the decision to resume or
prematurely stop the league will be made based on the analysis of the given reports. According to Matlama Social Media and Marketing Manager Themba Talane, the players underwent testing on Wednesday
at Lesotho Correctional Service (LCS) premises. “We tested 47 members and 11 came out positive for Covid-19. These are nine players and two members of the technical
team,” said Talane. He said the situation is devastating and it brings pressure to the team club as a whole. He mentioned that there is no doubt that this will affect their performance since players
are isolated, therefore they will not get a chance to keep their bodies in good conditions. “The team has also suspended the training sessions to prevent
further spread of the virus. We are working hard to deal with this situation and Matlama management has already launched counselling sessions to those who
are impacted as to motivate them. We wish our soldiers a speedy recovery and we are hopeful that this too shall pass,” he added. Meanwhile, A-Division Management Committee
(ADMC) Public Relations Officer (PRO) Mothuse Letsie stated that all A-Division
teams were also requested to undergo Covid-19 testing and he stated that they have so far never received any official medical report from the teams as they
seem to encounter some challenges. ‘’Most hospitals require a special letter from the Ministry of Health (MoH) for players to be tested as they clarified
that they are only instructed to test people who have signs and symptoms of Covid-19. The teams that reported this issue are Quthing Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS),
Qacha’s Nek LMPS and Rydo Stars of Mafeteng. All the upcoming A-Division League matches have been postponed, furthermore all the teams must tests for Covid-19
and hand over their medical report to us,” Letsie revealed. Also, Premier League Management Committee (PLMC) Communications and Media Manager (CMM) Qamako Mahao indicated
that so far there are only six teams that submitted the medical reports. The number of people that tested positive for Covid-19 in the premier league is 16
following the fact that Matlama has recently recorded 11 members that tested positive. Qamako mentioned the decision will be made based on teams reports as to indicate the way forward.
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