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Football star Ronaldo fights against coronavirus
LISBON: Cristiano Ronaldo and football agent Jorge Mendes teamed up on Tuesday to donate rescue teams to Portuguese hospitals fighting coronavirus patients. Two men will donate equipment to two departments of the Santa Maria Hospital in Lisbon, providing 10 beds, ventilators, heart monitors, infusion pumps and syringes, the hospital said. In Porto, the second-largest city in the country, a Portuguese couple will set up a room in the Santo Antonio hospital with 15 intensive care beds, ventilators, monitors and other emergency equipment. Three stations are named after men.
“We would like to thank Ronaldo and Mendes for this initiative, which is very useful at a time when the country needs all of this,” said Paulo Barbosa, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Santo Antonio, in a statement. Although Portugal has a total of 2,362 coronavirus cases and 29 deaths, which is much less than in Italy and Spain, the country’s health system is already under pressure. In an interview with TVI on Monday, Prime Minister Antonio Costa said there are 1,142 ventilators and 250 hospitals in public hospitals across the country. To deal with the crisis, the Chinese government bought 500 fans and 4 million masks.
“We (the healthcare system) will never lose control of the situation,” said Costa. Local health workers expressed doubts, especially about the lack of protective equipment. On Monday, Ordem dos Médicos, the country’s medical association, warned Portuguese hospitals of the lack of masks, gloves and face protection. The Ordem dos Enferiros Nurse Association confirmed the concerns of the doctors and said that some nurses were wearing swimming goggles to protect themselves. According to the country’s health minister, Antonio Salez, 165 of the previously infected people are health workers. Portugal declared a state of emergency on Wednesday with restrictions on popular movements.
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo will drastically cut their wages after the coronavirus pandemic.
Soccer in Spain and Italy has been suspended indefinitely due to a virus that has killed almost 25,000 people worldwide.
According to Forbes, Barcelona is in talks to reduce its players’ salaries by up to 70% to control its economic impact. This will reduce Messi’s annual pre-tax salary from $ 90 million to $ 27 million.
It is unclear if Messi will cut wages by 70%, but Forbes reports that Messi’s earnings could be cut by about $ 50 million, about 55% less than his salary.
The lower wages announced by Ronaldo, although less significant, could result in a loss of $ 20 million for the Portuguese star. Juventus is preparing to cut its players’ salaries by 30%, Forbes reports.
The 34-year-old man currently earns $ 66 million before taxes each year.
Despite the fact that salary cuts continue, as previously mentioned, Messi and Ronaldo will continue to be two of the three highest-paid soccer players in the world due to their numerous advertising contracts.
Messi currently has mega contracts with Adidas and Pepsi that will help keep annual sales at around $ 78 million, while Ronaldo’s contracts with Nike and EA will keep sales at $ 91 million, Forbes says.
Earlier this week, France Football was named the highest-paid player couple in the soccer world, with more than $ 100 million won in 2019.
Doctors say the Champions League football match with “biological bombs” in February has become an “incredible accelerator” for the deadly spread of the coronavirus in northern Italy.
Harper Harrison is a reporter for The Hear UP. Harper got an internship at the NPR and worked as a reporter and producer. harper has also worked as a reporter for the Medium. Harper covers health and science for The Hear UP.