体坛英语新闻：All footballers in North Macedonia to be tested for COVID-19 ahead of restart

SKOPJE, June 2 (Xinhua) -- All footballers in North Macedonia will be tested for COVID-19 ahead of the season restart, Health Minister Venko Filipce told a press conference on Tuesday.

According to Filipce, the decision to test all footballers and personnel involved in training sessions was taken by the representatives of the Football Federation of Macedonia and the Commission for Infectious Diseases.

"Public Health Institute will do the required testing. Nothing that jeopardizes athletes' health will be restarted or initiated," Filipce said.

According to local media, two members of Shkendija football club have tested positive for COVID-19.

At the press conference, the minister also emphasized that authorities have the capacity to handle a COVID-19 wave considering the state of health system, patients treatment capacities, large availability of hospital beds, low rate of infected health personnel and the number of available ventilators.

Filipce said that health authorities have registered a total of 76 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours.

As of Tuesday, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in North Macedonia is 2,391, with 1,596 recoveries and 141 fatalities.