Professional baseball Hanshin announced that three players, including pitcher Masashi Itoh, who was scheduled to start in the Chunichi match on the night of the 13th, were infected with the new coronavirus.
According to the team, outfielder Taiga Egoshi came into contact with a person with fever and was tested positive for the new coronavirus on the night of the 12th.
In response to this, a screening test was conducted on the players and staff of the 1st Army, and on the 13th, it was confirmed that pitchers Ito and Shintaro Fujinami were infected.
While Egoe has symptoms of fever and headache, pitchers Ito and Fujinami have no symptoms at this time, and all three are being treated away from the team.
Pitcher Ito was scheduled to start in the Chunichi match on the night of the 13th, but pitcher Ippei Ogawa, who had been appointed as a middle reliever for the third year, will be the starting pitcher instead.
In addition, infielder Yasuhiro Yamamoto and middle reliever Kosuke Baba may have close contact with each other.
Hanshin commented that while canceling the registration of five players from the 1st Army, the team's activities will continue as planned, and "we will continue to take thorough infection control measures."