Munster to remain in Cape Town after positive Covid-19 test

Munster are to remain in Cape Town after someone in their travelling party tested positive for Covid-19, the club said on Sunday.

Munster are one of several European rugby union teams that were in South Africa when authorities raised concerns about the new Omicron coronavirus variant.

“Munster Rugby will remain in Cape Town while we wait on next steps from the health authorities after returning one positive case in our latest testing,” the club said in a Twitter post.

The statement did not say whether the positive test was the Omicron variant.

Earlier this week, Cardiff and the Scarlets said they are struggling to fly their teams back from South Africa despite securing a charter plane.

The two Welsh regions, along with Munster and Zebre Parma, have been in the country preparing to play back-to-back matches in the United Rugby Championship.

Those fixtures have since been postponed after South Africa was added to the UK Government’s red travel list.

A Cardiff statement read: “Cardiff Rugby continue to work tirelessly to repatriate their travelling party from South Africa following sudden developments around the Covid-19 variant B.1.1.529.

“A charter aircraft has been secured, however we have been unable to secure Civil Aviation Authority clearance due to the closure of borders in the UK and European Union.”

A Scarlets statement added: “Together with our colleagues at Cardiff Rugby, we had hoped to fly out of South Africa on Friday.”

The URC reacted to news of the discovery of a new coronavirus variant by postponing the next two rounds of matches on South African soil, starting with this weekend’s games between the Stormers and Zebre, the Sharks and the Scarlets, the Bulls and Munster, and the Lions and Cardiff.

The URC said in a statement: “Due to the sudden developments connected with the new Covid-19 variant (B.1.1.529) that have immediately placed South Africa on the UK and EU travel red lists, the scheduled Round 6 and 7 United Rugby Championship fixtures set to take place in South Africa over the next two weekends have been postponed and will be rescheduled later this season.

“The safety and well-being of our participating clubs’ players, coaches, support staff and match officials is the foremost priority and the URC is currently working with the four visiting clubs – Cardiff Rugby, Munster Rugby, Scarlets and Zebre Parma – to facilitate their return as soon as possible.”

Flights to England from South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Botswana, Eswatini and Zimbabwe were suspended from midday on Friday and all six countries will be added to the red list.

Anyone who arrived after 4am on Saturday is required to stay at a managed quarantine hotel.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said on Friday the UK was “buying time” by adding South Africa, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, Zimbabwe and Namibia to its travel red list, adding that the Government was taking a “safety-first approach” over the B.1.1.529 variant.