South African cricketer Solo Nqweni contracts COVID-19

Johannesburg: South African cricketer Solo Nqweni on Thursday tested positive for the coronavirus, the disease which has brought the world to a standstill.

The all-rounder has been battling Guillan-Barre syndrome since last July. He is the third cricketer known to have contracted the disease after Pakistan’s Zafar Sarfraz and Scotland’s Majid Haq.

Taking to Twitter, Nqweni revealed the news, “So last year I got GBS, and have been battling this disease for the past 10 months and I’m only a half way through my recovery. I got TB, my liver failed and my kidney failed. Now today I tested positive for coronavirus. I don’t understand why all of this is happening to me.”

In July 2019, whilst playing club cricket in Scotland, Nqweni was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre, a rare but serious auto-immune disorder whereby the immune system attacks the nervous system.

In February, South African cricketers had donated 50,000 Rand to help the rehabilitation of Nqweni.

Nqweni has played 36 first-class matches for Eastern Province since 2012. He played eight under-19 one-day games for South Africa, three of them at the 2012 under-19 World Cup.