Thirteen members of a Portuguese professional soccer team have tested positive for the new COVID-19 omicron variant after one player recently returned from a trip to South Africa.

A spokesman for Belenenses told Reuters that two or three of the players and two or three of the staff members who tested positive for the new strain have symptoms, noting that they are “nothing too serious.”

The rest of the positive cases, however, are asymptomatic, according to the spokesman.

He said 44 players and staff members, himself included, are now self-isolating at home and waiting to be tested.

One of the players who tested positive for the variant is a player who recently returned from South Africa, according to The New York Times, which is where the omicron strain was first detected.

The outbreak was detected after the team played a Primeira Liga match against Benfica on Saturday. Most of the team was in isolation because of an existing COVID-19 outbreak, leaving just nine Belenenses players on the field when the game started, according to Reuters.

……..