An Uzbek player for Buriram United has tested positive for the coronavirus ahead of the resumption of the Thai League 1 football season on Saturday.
The Public Health Ministry announced on Friday that the infection was found in the 29-year-old midfielder during testing before the season restarted.
The Department of Medical Sciences conducted 1,115 tests on all players, staff, officials and referees of Thai League 1 and League 2 on Tuesday and the test on the foreigner was the only positive result to come back on Thursday.
The ministry did not disclose the name of the player for medical privacy reasons.
The news has forced league officials to postpone three matches pending new tests on Thunder Castle players plus those on other clubs that had played friendly matches against Buriram earlier.
The Uzbek player tested negative on Aug 11 before he left for Thailand. Two tests during quarantine at the Anantara Riverside Hotel in Bangkok also were negative.
He left for Buri Ram to join the team on Aug 27, and the former champions subsequently travelled to their training ground in Bang Bo district of Samut Prakan on Thursday.
The question now is when the player contracted the virus.
Yong Poovorawan, head of the Centre of Excellence in Clinical Virology at the Faculty of Medicine of Chulalongkorn University, said it was highly likely the virus was imported from Uzbekistan, although the test before his departure was negative.
The player could have been asymptomatic for more than 14 days — the period required by Thailand, Dr Yong said.
But he did not rule out the possibility of local transmission, saying that if that was the case, health officials would find the source.
“In my opinion, the player could be infected from the country he left,” Dr Yong said.
The Thai League 1 season will resume on Saturday after being suspended since March due to the pandemic. League 2 matches will resume on the same day.
But the discovery of an infected player has forced the postponement of three fixtures, said Korawee Prisananantakul, deputy chairman of the Thai League organising committee.
The affected matches are between Buriram United and BG Pathum on Sunday, Ratchaburi Mitr Phol and Bangkok United on Saturday, and Khon Kaen United and Siam Navy in Thai League 2 on Saturday.
Ratchaburi and Khon Kaen played friendly matches with Buriram United before the season resumes.
All players will be tested for Covid-19 on Saturday.
