With the UAE Tour cancelled and the hotels that will serve as race venues sealed off until the inspection of athletes, staff, organizations and media is completed, the events of the past 24 hours are recalled as news and reactions from the race slowly emerge, including rumors spreading on social media.

On Thursday evening, the Abu Dhabi Sports Council and RCS Sport, organizers of the UAE Tour, announced that two Italian staff members (opens in new tab) from participating teams had tested positive for the coronavirus SARS-CoV-19. On Friday, the UCI issued a statement saying that "two staff members of the participating team had two suspected cases of coronavirus."

The final two stages of the race were cancelled and Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) was confirmed the winner. The teams were confined to their hotel rooms at the Crowne Royal Plaza Abu Dhabi Yas Island, as were other race organization members and the media. All have been tested for the Colon virus, the results of which will be announced on Friday and Saturday.

Deceuninck-QuickStep boss Patrick Lefebvre, Lotto Soudal direct sportif Mario Aerts, and several members of the Jumbo-Visma team have reported on the ongoing situation.

"Rumors were not circulating during the day. It was sudden news in the evening," Aerts told Het Nieuwsblad.

"I stayed up until four in the morning. They ended up visiting our team at 6:00 AM."

"I was so excited," Aerts told Het Nieuwsblad. [They took mucus from my nose with a cotton swab and took my temperature in my ear. Now we have to wait for news. We should know the results sometime on Friday. Then we will know if we can go home on Sunday.

"Everyone is calm. It's a little annoying that the race was stopped, but all in all it's not so bad here. There are worse places and hotels to stay in quarantine."

Lefebvre, who is in Belgium, was concerned that the two staff members had been in contact with staff members of UAE Team Emirates, to which they were reportedly affiliated. The team has not yet confirmed the cases of the two staff members.

"In a country like the UAE, all the teams are in one hotel. There was a lot of contact between UAE Team Emirates and my team, a lot of contact between UAE Team Emirates and my team, a lot of contact between UAE Team Emirates and my team, a lot of contact between UAE Team Emirates and my team, a lot of contact between UAE Team Emirates and my team. They were tested this morning, but it will take a few hours to get the results. Worst case scenario, the players will have to stay in a hotel for 14 days."

Jos van Emden, road captain of Jumbo Visma, was critical of the testing conditions, noting that all those tested were closely packed in a small hallway, which could facilitate the spread of the virus.

"A narrow hallway on the second floor. Everyone was within half a meter of each other. If someone had gotten sick there, we would all be sick now," he told AD.nl (opens in new tab).

"I hope it ends soon. It's going to be a terrible feeling [for those infected], because 500 people are trapped in a sandbox that they're not allowed to get out of."

Van Emden also described the situation inside the hotel, where riders are forced to stay in their rooms and kept away from the outside terrace.

"Freedom of movement is restricted. We don't have to be confined to our rooms, but we know there are armed people at the door. Dylan (Grunwegen) and Timo (Roosen) were evicted from the rooftop terrace this morning. They wanted to sunbathe but were turned away."

Meanwhile, team coach Grischa Niermann hoped that Jumbo Visma would not have to stay in the hotel for two weeks, the quarantine period for any contact with a player who has been confirmed positive for coronavirus.

"The plane flies over the Formula 1 circuit next to the hotel. I'm sitting on the terrace right now and I can't leave," he told AD.nl. 'It's not the best situation, but everybody's healthy and fine. We are just isolated." [33][34] "I hope to get out soon. If I had to stay there for two weeks, I'd hang myself. There are worse places to stay, though. It's not the Campanile Hotel in a deserted part of France. But I'm still locked up."

Dutch journalist Raymond Kerkhofs told Sporza (open in new tab) that the players are generally in good spirits about the situation and are not worried about the virus while they await test results.

"I have been in touch with the players on my cell phone," he said. 'They are more likely to laugh about the virus and not worry about it. Still, the atmosphere is becoming increasingly grim. It's a lot of ambiguity and a big question of how long we're going to stay here."

"It is true that the riders had to sign a paper during the inspection. It says there that they are not allowed to talk to the press or post on social media, but of course they can't keep that up. We journalists are here and the riders are here to keep us informed."

Test results for the coronavirus are now being passed on to the affected players.