Jamaica are set to lodge a complaint with FIFA over claims they played against two coronavirus-positive Costa Rica players in Wednesday’s World Cup qualifier.
Jamaica Football Federation medical chief Dr. Guyan Arscott told The Jamaica Gleaner six people from Costa Rica’s travelling party – including two players who faced the Reggae Boyz – tested positive for Covid-19 on arrival in Jamaica on Tuesday February 1.
Now JFF general secretary Dalton Wint has confirmed the body is aware of the issue and will consequently make a formal complaint to FIFA on the matter.
‘I don’t know what we can appeal, but I am sure I will be sending something to FIFA to enquire as to why this happened because this is an absolute breach of the rules,’ Wint said.
Arscott added: ‘I can confirm that there were six Costa Ricans that tested [positive for Covid-19]. Three were non-players and three were players.
‘One player was isolated because his test was deemed to be relatively new. We recommended that those two players should be isolated or should not be allowed to play.
‘We had some discussions with the members of the Ministry of Health and we wondered if they had some new infections, having tested negative before they left Costa Rica.
‘Be that as it may, with the positive test, we felt we were duty bound to recommend that they not play,’ Arscott said.
He also claimed the same players had tested positive for the virus a few weeks ago, but had been cleared after completing a period of self-isolation and also producing negative Covid tests.
‘They had tested positive a fortnight or so before. We were told that they did their quarantine and isolation and tested negative before leaving Costa Rica. But on arrival in Jamaica they tested positive at our official lab,’ Arscott added.
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