The Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), Russia’s top domestic hockey league, has suspended play following several COVID outbreaks. The league announced Wednesday that play would be halted from the 15th through January 22nd.
KHL officials indicate that 124 players have tested positive as of Tuesday, with over 20% of those cases coming within the last 24hrs. An additional 47 PCR tests came back positive amongst team staffers and coaches.
In a statement posted to the league website, KHL President Alexei Morozov remarked “I want to reiterate – our main goal in pandemic times is the health of players and fans. Nothing has changed on this aspect.
The epidemiological situation is developing rapidly: in the last 24 hours, 60 people in the League got sick, and several clubs showed symptoms of the disease. The KHL will hold games over the next three matchdays with the participation of clubs where there will be no worsening of the epidemiological situation.
The speed of spread of the disease, as well as current information on the epidemiological situation in the country and the world indicate that in the next three days the number of registered cases of coronavirus will increase manifold. That’s why the League decided to postpone four matchdays, where most games will not take place because of the quarantine in the teams.”
As of now, the league intends to make up postponed games during the Olympic break, similar to the plan the NHL unveiled a few weeks back. A new schedule is expected by the end of January.
The 24 team league which spans across several international borders is expected to be a prime source of Olympic level hockey players following news that the NHL would not be sending players to the Beijing Games.