(Reuters) – The International Skating Union on Tuesday announced strict requirements, including temperature checks, for attending next week’s world figure skating championships in Montreal amid the coronavirus outbreak.
According to a coronavirus information package sent by the sport’s governing body to skaters, coaches, officials and media, anyone with a temperature above 38 degrees Celsius or who has acute respiratory symptoms will be denied entry and isolated.
Anyone put in isolation will not be issued an accreditation for the March 16-22 event until they have been cleared by the Canadian Public Health officials.
The ISU also said all accredited persons will have their temperature monitored every second day during the event in order to get into the venue.
During the championships, the ISU has asked attendees to wash hands frequently, avoid shaking hands and kissing, and to dispose of used tissues in a closed trash can.
The information package also included a questionnaire that must be completed and it asks attendees, among other things, their nationality, if they had recently been to a high-risk area for coronavirus or in contact with anyone who has traveled to a high-risk area.
The requirements from the ISU came a day after Quebec Health Minister Danielle McCann said the government is quickly trying to determine whether to allow the championships to go ahead.
Last Saturday, the International Ice Hockey Federation said the women’s world ice hockey championship set for to begin on March 31 in eastern Canada was canceled over concerns about the coronavirus outbreak.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Toby Davis)
