Hungary will introduce new COVID-19 restrictions as the coronavirus continues to batter the European nation. But the new restrictions shouldn’t affect the ongoing ISL season there, the league says.
Hungary has been hit by a rising wave of COVID-19 cases in the past few weeks. The BBC reports that the nation is introducing a new set of health and safety restrictions, including an earlier curfew for the next month. The nation will limit the number of people at public gatherings and will temporarily close schools, restaurants and universities.
Prime Minister Vikto Orban said that “if coronavirus infections rise at the current pace… Hungarian hospitals will not be able to cope with the burden,” according to the BBC.
The International Swimming League is running its 2020 season from a ‘bubble’ in Budapest. We reported last week that teams had informed athletes of the incoming coronavirus restrictions, noting that the league would be much stricter on rules about mask-wearing and social distancing to comply with the host nation’s pandemic regulations.
The ISL says the new restrictions won’t affect training or competition within the ISL’s bubble:
”There has been no change at all within the Budapest bubble,” a spokesperson said. “ISL continues to run its training and competition schedule as planned due to the extraordinary work of the medical task force.”
Hungary’s new night curfew will run from 8 PM to 5 AM in local time. That appears to be the biggest piece that will impact the swimmers and coaches within the ISL bubble, and mostly just by requiring athletes to ride the team buses back to the hotel after competitions.
all swimming pools are forced to close so there must be an exception for the Duna Arena
But the main point is correct, since they have been in a bubble, they will be the least unaffected group in Budapest.
Least unaffected? Do you mean least infected OR everyone gonna die?