Mumbai: 139 more passengers test positive for COVID-19 on board cruise ship that returned from Goa
Mumbai, Jan 5: Another 139 of total 1,827 passengers onboard the Cordelia cruise ship, which has returned from Goa, tested positive for coronavirus infection on Wednesday, said an official of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).
These 139 patients were in addition to 66 passengers who were found to have contracted COVID-19 earlier.
Of the 66, 60 passengers had returned to Mumbai while six had disembarked in Goa.
A BMC official said the passengers who tested positive but have no symptoms will be quarantined at home, while the symptomatic ones will be shifted to institutional quarantine.
Earlier, the BMC's executive health officer Dr Mangala Gomare had told PTI that another 143 passengers had tested positive on Wednesday, but late at night the civic body revised this figure to 139.
The 60 patients who had tested positive earlier and returned here have been already shifted to various hotels besides the Byculla based Jumbo COVID-19 centre of the BMC and the government-run Saint George Hospital. The BMC update said that it collected 1,827 samples after the ship docked at the International Cruise Terminal at Ballard Pier in South Mumbai on Tuesday evening.
The BMC had appointed two private laboratories for conducting the tests and the samples were collected in two batches till 5.30 am, it said.
The passengers whose COVID-19 test came out negative will be allowed to go home, but it will be mandatory for them to stay in home quarantine for seven days.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
