National Hockey League announces enhanced COVID-19 measures amid rise in cases

Under the measures players will be tested daily instead of every third day, though they do not need tests on off days.

Reuters

December 18, 2021 / 22:53 IST

Representative image: Reuters

The National Hockey League (NHL) has announced enhanced COVID-19 measures which include daily testing and restrictions amid the emergence of the Omicron variant and a recent increase in positive cases among teams, it said on Saturday.

Under the measures players will be tested daily instead of every third day, though they do not need tests on off days.

Additional pre-game testing could be implemented on a case-by-case basis when an outbreak occurs within a team, following a consultation with the NHL and the league's players' association (NHLPA), the league said.

ALSO READ: Twelve more Omicron cases reported in Telangana

The decision comes after the NHL on Friday shut down nL1N2T222S the Calgary Flames, Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers through at least Dec. 26 because of COVID-19 concerns.

According to ESPN, more than 130 NHL players have been placed on the league's COVID-19 protocol list this season.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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