With Lunar New Year festivities last weekLCK teams were on hiatus so they could spend the holidays with their families, however these celebrations quickly turned into a quarantinemany players contracted COVID-19 during this break.
This is particularly the case DRX players, who tested positive. It all starts on February 2, when Kim “Zeka” Geon-woo is diagnosed positive. Following this event, DRX management asked other players on the roster to also get tested, revealing that BeryL, Kingen and Pyosik, as well as a member of the team staff, also tested positive. As the season gets underway, this therefore represented a major problem for DRX, which called on its Challenger team as a replacement, calling Song “Clear” Hyeon-min, Lee “Peach” Min-gyu, Song “SeTab” Kyeong-jin and Yoon “Jun” Se-jun for their first LCK match of the 2022 season against kt Rolster. However, these changes turn out to be useless since since this morning, the players of the original roster were able to get out of their quarantine, having complied with the measures put in place by the government. After consultation with the LCK, they were allowed to participate in the match which will take place today.
In accordance with Government guidance, Kingen, Pyosik, Zeka and BeryL have been released from quarantine.
DRX notified LCK of it and was answered they can participate in today’s match from the 2nd set.#DRX—DRX (@DRXGlobal) February 9, 2022
This Tuesday is NS RedForce which testifies to similar events: three of their players, Jang “Ghost” Yong-jun, Gwak “Bdd” Bo-seong and Jeong “Peter” Yoon-suas well as a member of the coaching staff, the head coach Bae “sBs” Ji-hunturned out positive for COVID-19. Ghost was the first to test positive on Monday and the structure immediately put all the means in place to disinfect its premises and provide tests to other players as well as to the staff. Also, the news just broke today, but Lee “Effort” Sang-ho, also tested positive, amounting to 4 the number of infected players at NS RedForce. The team will also have to offer replacements that they will surely bring from the Challenger League to compete in the LCK.
Dear Fans, this is NS RedForce
NS Bdd, Peter, and sBs tested positive today. We are waiting for Effort’s PCR test results and the rest of NS members tested negative. pic.twitter.com/6fyliejn2q
— NS RedForce Global (@NS_RedForce) February 8, 2022
The LCK will still be maintained, teams with Covid cases therefore having to replace their players to participate in order to guarantee a smooth running of the league. However, Riot Games could reverse this decision if several players from Challengers League teams also tested positive.