Bafana striker Dino Ndlovu and his Chinese club cool their heels

Bafana Bafana striker Dino Ndlovu should be getting ready to kick off his new season at Chinese club Zhejiang Greentown this weekend‚ but instead will be out of action for an indefinite period with the league on hold.

The Chinese Football Association has suspended all football in the country due to the coronavirus outbreak and has given no time frame for when it might resume. That will depend on how long it takes authorities to get the spread of the virus under control — a virus that shows little sign of abating.

Business Day tried but could not make contact with Ndlovu.

He is based in Hangzhou‚ about 750km from Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus outbreak‚ but it is far from business as usual in his city.

China has placed half-a-billion people‚ or about 10 times the population of SA‚ on either partial or total lockdown‚ restricting their movement to try to stop the spread of the virus.

Households under total lockdown can only send one person out into the streets every three days to buy groceries‚ otherwise they must remain indoors. Neighbours are given financial incentives to report people who do not follow these strict orders.

It has created a humanitarian crisis in which more than 80,000 people have been infected‚ causing at least 2,700 deaths worldwide‚ according to the World Health Organisation‚ with most in China.

It has also had a huge effect on sport and could yet cause the postponement or even cancellation of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics in neighbouring Japan. The World Athletics Indoor Championships scheduled for China in March have already been postponed‚ as has the Chinese Formula 1 Grand Prix that was to have taken place in April.

Asian Champions League matches involving Chinese clubs Guangzhou Evergrande‚ Shanghai Shenhua and Shanghai SIPG have been postponed‚ while China’s 2022 World Cup qualifiers against Maldives and Guam in March will be played behind closed doors in Thailand.

Vietnam is not allowing any sport to be staged in February as authorities fear the mass assembly of people could help spread the virus‚ while the South Korean league has postponed the start of its competition.

The virus has now hit Italy, with Serie A matches to be played behind closed doors after the cancellation of four games on Sunday‚ including Inter Milan vs Sampdoria.

The Singapore and Hong Kong legs of the Rugby Sevens World Series have been moved from April to October‚ while events in tennis‚ badminton‚ boxing and golf‚ which includes two European Tour tournaments‚ have also been postponed.