Star footballer Sunil Chhetri tests positive for COVID

The 36-year-old was competing in the Indian Super League (ISL) till last month in Goa in a bio-secure bubble.

PTI

March 11, 2021 / 06:39 PM IST

Indian football team captain and star striker Sunil Chhetri on Thursday said he has tested positive for COVID-19, a development that is set to rule him out of the international friendly against Oman on March 25 in Dubai.

He is also likely to miss the March 29 friendly against United Arab Emirates at the same venue. The Bengaluru FC star forward took to social media to post the update and said that he is feeling fine.

"In a not-so-happy update, I've tested positive for COVID-19. In better news, I feel fine as I continue my recovery from the virus and should be back on a football pitch soon," Chhetri wrote on his Twitter handle.

"No better time to keep reminding everyone to continue taking all the safety precautions always."

The 36-year-old was competing in the Indian Super League (ISL) till last month in Goa in a bio-secure bubble.

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.

Show