GosuGamers has discovered a potential case of Coronavirus at ONE Esports Singapore Major.
After waiting 14 months for a LAN, ONE Esports Singapore Major just kicked off today with the Wild Card Series. Fans were treated to an amazing run by Team Liquid and felt the pain of disastrous results for T1 and Team Nigma.
Unfortunately, the attention has once again come back around to that pesky little virus that wreaks havoc on all aspects of life.
Staff at One Esports confirmed to one of Singapore's major news outlets that on the first day of competition a participant had tested positive for the coronavirus.
According to the organisers, the 28-year-old American had tested negative before he flew over from Romania for the closed-door event, but received a positive test result upon arrival in Singapore.
He was identified only as Case 61186 who arrived as part of an e-sports event crew in the Ministry of Health's nightly update of Covid-19 cases on Friday.
According to information, the afflicted person has been isolated, taken to the hospital and all close contacts have been in quarantine.
A One Esports spokesman told StraitsTimes:
The health and safety of the players, talent and all who are involved in this closed-door tournament, including the wider community, is of utmost importance to us. This case was detected through the screening protocols and stringent measures that were put in place to safeguard the health of our local community as well as the event participants.
Although the players and talent have been required to be placed in a 48 hour quarantine up upon arrival and then are not expected to have any contact with others outside of their own teams, the concern is still about those that traveled on the same airplane and shuttlebus to arrive at the hotel.
Considering that the person is identified as an American and both Quincy Crew and Evil Geniuses have not yet arrived at the location, it lends to believe it is one of the talents or production staff.
GosuGamers have tried to reach out to organizers with no response.
We've explored the health risks with the Return of the LANs and tried to weigh if it was worth it. We dove in deep about compromised competitive integrity potential from the multiple issues and questioned who should be held responsible for issues.
Sadly, it seems that the situation will get worse before it is all over and will greatly overshadow any of the hype and thrills from the games and players themselves.
Affected teams of ONE Esports Singapore Major
beastcoast became the first team to pull out of the major followed by Na'vi.
Six other squads —Team Aster, T1, Team Nigma, Quincy Crew, Na'Vi, and Neon have announced stand-in players for the event, due to COVID-19 concerns or positive PCR tests. Dota 2 commentator Ioannis "Fogged" Loucas had to pull out of the talent line-up after being exposed to the coronavirus.
ONE Esports Singapore Major
The ONE Esports Singapore Major is the first LAN in over 14 months for Dota 2 fans.
Scheduled to be held March 27th – April 4th, the big event will take place in Singapore, hosted by PGL and in partnership with ONE Esports and Singapore Tourism Board (STB). It will feature (now) sixteen teams competing on-site for the lion's share of the $500,000 prize pool and 2,700 DPC points.
Head to our tournament coverage hub HERE to get up to date with all that’s happening at ONE Esports Singapore Major.
