Sports hit hard by new Covid variant

Golf, cricket and rugby became the first major sports to be affected by the new Covid-19 variant in South Africa yesterday, prompting fears of renewed travel restrictions and disrupted events just as they were returning to normal nearly two years into the pandemic. European golfers withdrew midway through the season-opening DP World Tour tournament in Johannesburg and were scrambling to catch flights out of South Africa. Visiting cricket and rugby teams were doing the same. Golf was the first to be hit by the emergence of the new B.1.1.529 variant.