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Coronavirus pandemic

Turkish famed footballer Recber is in critical condition after diagnosed with COVID-19

Last weekend, former goalkeeper of the Turkish national football team was rushed to a hospital, where he tested positive for the novel coronavirus

Rustu Recber EPA-EFE/JULIAN MARTIN

Rustu Recber

© EPA-EFE/JULIAN MARTIN

MOSCOW, March 31. /TASS/. Turkish football legend Rustu Recber is in critical condition after he was hospitalized last week with the COVID-19 diagnosis, Turkish daily Milliyet reported on Tuesday.

Last Saturday, former goalkeeper of the Turkish national football team Recber, 46, was rushed to a hospital, where he tested positive for the novel coronavirus. According to the daily, doctors express serious concerns about Recber’s current health condition.

Playing for the national football team of Turkey as a goalkeeper, Recber is a bronze medalist of the 2002 FIFA World Cup (co-hosted by South Korea and Japan) and the bronze medalist of the 2008 UEFA Euro Cup (co-hosted by Austria and Switzerland). In all, he played a record number of 120 matches for his country’s national team.

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He also played for Turkish football clubs Antalyaspor, Fenerbahce and Besiktas as well as for Spain’s Barcelona before announcing retirement in 2012. He is five-time champion of Turkey and the winner of two Turkey Cups.

According to the recent data, Turkey has reported over 10,820 confirmed novel coronavirus cases, including 168 deaths caused by the virus. Over 160 patients recovered from COVID-19 in Turkey.

In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, in central China. Since then, cases of the novel coronavirus - named COVID-19 by the WHO - have been reported in more than 160 countries, including Russia.

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. To date, more than 802,960 people have been infected worldwide and over 39,020 have died, while more than 172,390 have recovered.

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