Riot Games Issues Fresh Statement on Valorant Champions’ Safety Precautions

After two players were reported to be COVID-positive at Valorant Champions, participants at the event were concerned about the safety precautions taken by Riot Games. Sentinel’s Jared “zombs” Gitlin said during a post-match press conference that the COVID scare has impacted the players and his team was unable to practice all day because of it. Zombs revealed that a lot of players simply want to go home and player concerns were soon addressed by Riot Games who issued an official statement on the matter.

Riot Games’ official statement on the COVID-19 situation at Champions

Riot Games issued a statement revealing that all participants at the event will now be required to take rapid antigen tests as well as a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test twice a week. During the daily antigen tests, multiple players showed positive results. But after laboratory-confirmed PCR tests were conducted, all of the players returned negative results and will be able to continue competing on stage. The names of the players have not been revealed by Riot Games.

Team Liquid’s Nabil “Nivera” Benrlitom and Team Envy’s Victor "Victor" Wong have tested positive for COVID-19 and both players are required to compete under special circumstances. Riot Games revealed earlier this week that there is a LAN network that was built for such situations and Envy and its opponents will be able to play the scheduled matches on the network which has been built in a quarantine facility.

Victor and Nivera will be participating from an isolated room while other players will be able to compete from nearby practice rooms. The order of the matches for Team Envy may be subject to change as Riot Games prepares itself to make the necessary accommodations for the team.

With reports of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 being transmitted faster than previous strains being reported by the World Health Organization (WHO), publishers are on high alert. EA canceled the Apex Legends Global Series Split 1 LAN event in favor of regional online events as countries may implement travel restrictions which could make things difficult for competing players.

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