TI10: Invictus Gaming's flyfly tests positive for COVID-19

Chinese team Invictus Gaming (IG) announced on Saturday (2 October) that their carry player, Jin "flyfly" Zhiyi, has tested positive for the coronavirus alongside team coach Su "super" Peng and a staff member two days after offlaner Thiay "JT-" Jun Wen became the first positive case within the team.

In a post on their official Weibo page, IG said that flyfly was presumably asymptomatic and was not feeling any "physical discomfort" after he tested positive. Meanwhile, super and the other staff member that tested positive were sharing the same room and experienced mild headaches and fevers.

IG also revealed that they have already stopped all of their training for TI10 since Wednesday (29 September) in order to have their players and staff isolate and rest in separate rooms.

Flyfly is now the fifth confirmed player to have been hit by COVID-19 after three Team Aster players as well as their coach and other staff members tested positive in the lead-up to TI10 on Wednesday.

There are also screenshots circulating online alleging that other members of Team Aster tested positive, however, the team have yet to issue an official statement.

IG and Team Aster are among the five Chinese teams — alongside PSG.LGD, Vici Gaming (VG), and Elephant — that qualified for The International 10 (TI10), this year's iteration of Dota 2's annual world championship tournament. All five teams are currently bootcamping near the event's venue in Bucharest, Romania and are staying in the same hotel.

Following the positive cases from IG and Team Aster, PSG.LGD, VG, and Elephant have since confirmed in their respective Weibo pages that all of their players and support staff have produced negative tests.

As of the time of publication, both Dota 2 developer Valve Software and TI10 organiser PGL have not yet made any statements on the situation.

TI10 is set to begin on 7 October and will run until 17 October. With multiple players testing positive just over a week before it starts, there is growing concern over whether the tournament can be safely and successfully hosted.

TI10 features 18 of the best Dota 2 teams in the world competing to claim the title of world champions and the lion's share of the event's over US$40 million prize pool. TI10's main event from 12 to 17 October will notably be held in front of a live audience in the Arena Națională in Bucharest, Romania.

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