Hands off! Club bans shakes

English football side is wary of virus

London, Feb. 28: Premier League club Newcastle United have introduced a handshake ban to protect against the spread of the coronavirus, manager Steve Bruce said on Friday.

“There’s a ritual here that everybody shakes hands with everybody as soon as we see each other every morning — we’ve stopped that on the advice of the doctor,” Bruce said.

“We are like everybody else. Thankfully, we’ve got a superb doctor here and he will keep us informed of what we have to do.

“We’re like everybody else, we’re glued to the TV for where it’s going to go next and let’s hope it doesn’t get any worse in this country,” Bruce added.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said the club took the threat of the coronavirus seriously but there was no current advice not to shake hands at the club.

“We don’t do some

things that we maybe usually would do but that’s when the flu is going around it’s for us the same. We cannot do anything different to that,” he told his pre-match press conference.

He added: “In the end nobody has told us yet that we don’t have to play football so as long as that doesn’t happen we will play football, which is a contact sport, not to forget,” he added.

Sports events across the world are increasingly being affected.

The Swiss government

on Friday said it was suspending all events in the country involving more than 1,000 participants. All matches in the top flight will be postponed to a later date.

In cycling, the UAE Tour was abandoned after two Italian staff members of one of the teams taking part tested positive for the coronavirus. The virus has prompting many governments and businesses to try to stop people travelling or gathering in crowded places. —

— AP Inter Milan and Ludogorets compete inside an empty San Siro stadium in Milan, Italy, during their Europa League Round of 32 second leg football match on Thursday. The match was played behind closed doors as a precaution because of the coronavirus outbreak in Italy. Italian league’s governing body released a statement announcing that Sunday’s Italian Derby — between Juventus and Inter Milan — one of the biggest games of the season, and four others will be played without any fans allowed into the San Siro.