Image source: Riot Games
Fnatic has disclosed on March 15 that two members of its League of Legends division have tested positive for COVID-19 and self-quarantined ahead of Week 8, and that the other members of its League of Legends division are set to undergo testing ahead of their playoff game against SK Gaming on March 26. A Dot Esports report from Jacob Wolf later revealed that the two members were support Zdravets "Hylissang" Iliev Galabov and assistant coach Gary "Tolki" Mialaret.
The news comes after Fnatic lost three games on Week 8, sliding from upper bracket contention to the lower bracket first-round decider match. Before and during Week 8, Hylissang and Tolki performed their duties remotely as they entered self-quarantine, but the team's overall performance was affected considering the COVID-19 contaminations that took place previously.
"In line with Fnatic internal policies, we asked everyone that has been exposed to our positive cases to be retested and work remotely," Fnatic's statement on social media read.
The team cooperated with Riot Games to ensure they were available to compete on Week 8, while keeping news of the cases undisclosed to the public. However, the news may impact some of its members' playoff prospects should they still be showing symptoms by March 26, as the team is set to compete in the Berlin studios against SK Gaming.
The event is the first reported instance of active LEC team members contracting the virus. The situation is ongoing at the time of publishing this report.
