The Lotte Marines announced Tuesday a total 11 top-team players and staff have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, but the club's Pacific League game against the Orix Buffaloes went ahead as planned.
The club said that four outfielders and three infielders have been infected with the virus, as well as four non-playing staff, bringing the total number of recent infections at the club to 13 after it was revealed on Sunday that right-hander Daiki Iwashita and a staff member had tested positive.
According to Nippon Professional Baseball, Lotte's decision to go ahead with Tuesday's game was based on a recommendation from the local health office that said calling off the game would not be necessary.
The Marines said not a single member of the team dined out last week while in Sapporo for a three-game series against the Nippon Ham Fighters. Four players were deemed to have been in close contact with Iwashita by virtue of having sat near him on Thursday's flight back from Hokkaido.
No one in the club had tested positive during their last regularly scheduled tests, taken on Sept. 26.
"This occurred while we were undertaking the latest countermeasures," Marines manager Tadahito Iguchi said.
The seven newest players to be infected include Takashi Ogino, Katsuya Kakunaka and Ikuhiro Kiyota. Marines coach Shota Ishimine and three first-team staff members were also listed among the new cases.
Iguchi and the first team's coaches, players and staff all underwent polymerase chain reaction tests on Sunday after Iwashita and the staff member were found to be infected.
On Tuesday, the club activated 11 players while canceling its Eastern League farm games scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.
"I told everyone that I want them to get well soon and come back fit," Iguchi said. "It's regrettable this happened in the middle of a pennant race, but on the other hand this is also an opportunity for our young players."
The Marines, looking to win their first pennant in 15 years, are two games behind the Pacific League-leading SoftBank Hawks with 28 games remaining in the coronavirus-interrupted season.
