A LOCAL professional soccer player has been fined 500,000 yuan (US$70,126) by the Shenzhen Football Club for violating quarantine rules while under medical observation for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), Shenzhen Evening News reported yesterday, citing sources from the club.

The soccer player, who wasn’t named, was caught by a community police officer visiting a teammate’s room at a time when the entire team was placed under collective quarantine for medical observation, the News said.

The soccer team had returned to Shenzhen on March 15 after a winter training session in Middle Eastern country the United Arab Emirates. They underwent a 14-day medical quarantine although all of them tested negative for COVID-19 on nucleic acid tests upon entry.

The player was also penalized internally by the soccer club authority for violating the city’s anti-epidemic rules on collective quarantine.

After a medical quarantine period, the soccer team will resume regular training, although it is not yet known when the new Chinese Premier League season will kick off.

Most team members are currently in Shenzhen except for Swiss midfielder Blerim Dzemaili and new assistant coach J. Jorge Vargas of Chile, who are in Hong Kong awaiting Chinese visas. Another foreign player John Mary Honi Uzuegbunam is in his home country Serbia, unable to return to Shenzhen soon due to the global COVID-19 outbreak.

(Claudia Wei)