Footballer, Arturo Vidal hospitalised with severe tonsillitis and COVID-19 just days after being vaccinated
Chile and Inter Milan midfielder Arturo Vidal is recovering in hospital after contracting COVID-19, the Chilean national team announced on Tuesday June 1, 2021.
The 34-year-old, who was vaccinated against the virus on Friday, has been isolated from his Chile team-mates for 72 hours after initially being taken into hospital with the throat infection.
The national team confirmed he had later tested positive for coronavirus but that no other players in the squad had been infected.
“The medical team of the Chilean national team emphasizes that at the request of the player Arturo Vidal, it is announced that he has been diagnosed positive for Covid,” the national team said on its official website.
“Arturo has been hospitalised and isolated from the group for more than 72 hours in a preventive measure indicated by the medical team, due to the presentation of previously reported severe pleural tonsilitis.”
The midfielder will now miss Chile’s World Cup qualifier with Argentina on Thursday.
Infection rates in Chile remain high with over 6,000 daily cases reported.
Vidal posted a picture of him receiving the vaccine on Instagram on Friday alongside the caption: ‘Happy with the vaccine !!!
‘Now we are better for the next challenges with @laroja.
‘To take care of each other and to get vaccinated.’
Arturo Vidal born 22 May 1987 is a Chilean professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Inter Milan and Chile national team.
His displays during his time at Juventus led him to be nicknamed Il Guerriero (“The Warrior”), Rey Arturo (“King Arthur”) and La Piranha by the Italian press due to his hard-tackling and aggressive, tenacious style of play.
Arturo Vidal was born in San Joaquin, a working class commune in the Chilean capital Santiago. His talent was noticed by his uncle, and he later joined the youth squads of local Primera Division club Colo-Colo.
