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Liverpool star Mohamed Salah has mild symptoms after testing positive for the coronavirus and should spend at least the next week self-isolating in Egypt, the national team doctor said on Saturday.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Mohamed Abou Elela said that Salah’s attendance at his brother’s wedding could have contributed to his contracting COVID-19, but he cannot be sure.
Salah’s positive tests were returned on Friday on the eve of Egypt’s African Cup of Nations qualifying match against Togo. Now he will miss Liverpool’s first game after the international break against Leicester in the Premier League next Sunday.
Abou Elela, who spoke with the Liverpool doctor on Friday and Saturday, said Salah has to isolate himself for seven days according to Egyptian health guidelines.
“It is a mild case, he has no serious symptoms,” Abou Elela told the AP in a video call from Cairo. “You have to isolate yourself in Egypt until your test is negative and then of course you can travel back.”
Abou Elela did not provide further details on Salah’s condition.
Salah, 28, tested positive after being photographed, sometimes without covering his face, dancing among dozens of people at his brother’s wedding in Cairo earlier this week.
“I can’t deny,” Abou Elela replied when asked if Salah could have been infected at the wedding with little social distancing. ‘Nobody knows because … sadly, we still don’t know everything about the virus. My answer is maybe yes, maybe no.
Salah, who also attended an awards ceremony in Cairo on Wednesday held in his honor by the Egyptian FA.
Egypt is not suffering as much as Britain from the pandemic. While Egypt reported 244 new coronavirus cases and 12 deaths in Friday’s daily update, Britain reported another 26,860 cases and 462 COVID-19-related deaths on Saturday.
As the first Egyptian player to become a Premier League champion, Salah has been catapulted to global stardom and is a figurehead for his homeland beyond the field.
Government ministers have contacted Abou Elela to check Salah’s status.
“The concerns (are) of the Egyptian authorities because Mo for Egypt is special,” said Abou Elela. “Everyone here wants to help and … do everything the country can do.”
In a short statement posted on Twitter on Friday, the Egyptian FA revealed Salah’s positive test, saying: ‘The medical swab performed at our first national soccer team mission showed that our international player, Mohamed Salah, the Liverpool star , was infected with coronavirus, after his test he came back positive, although he does not present any symptoms.
“Meanwhile, the other team members were negative.”
The statement was later deleted and replaced with information that three Egyptian players had tested positive for coronavirus, without naming Salah, as well as some members of Saturday’s opposition Togo, and second tests will be conducted before the clash.
The Egyptian FA later confirmed that Salah had returned a second positive test.
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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