▲ In this file photo from June 18, 2021, fans attend a Korea Baseball Organization regular season game between the home team Lotte Giants and the Samsung Lions at Sajik Stadium in Busan, 450 kilometers southeast of Seoul. (Yonhap)
▲ In this file photo from June 15, 2021, fans take in a Korea Baseball Organization regular season game between the home team Doosan Bears and the Samsung Lions at Jamsil Baseball Stadium in Seoul. (Yonhap)

baseball-coronavirus

Members of 2 baseball clubs test positive for COVID-19

SEOUL, June 29 (Yonhap) -- Members of two South Korean baseball clubs have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, potentially putting the rest of the league on hold, industry sources said Tuesday.

According to the sources, one scout from a Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) team in the greater Seoul region tested positive for COVID-19 early Monday. All players, coaches and front office staff members for his team received tests and are awaiting results.

Later Monday, a coach for another team in greater Seoul also got infected with COVID-19, forcing the rest of his team to be tested.

Results for these tests are expected Tuesday.

Monday is the designated off day in the KBO. All 10 clubs are scheduled to be back in action Tuesday, but the two aforementioned clubs will not travel until their test results come back.

Players or officials who test positive or who are listed as close contacts must be quarantined.

Before the start of the season, the KBO said it would not halt the season based on a small number of positive cases on teams, and that it would allow such teams to expand their rosters temporarily to fill any resulting holes and keep the season going.

However, in case of a mass infection that leaves a club severely shorthanded, then the league will convene an emergency board meeting to discuss a potential stoppage of play for up to three weeks -- two weeks of quarantine, followed by one week of practice for clubs.

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