A Nigerian-born footballer who plays in Italy, King Udoh has become the first professional football player to test positive for coronavirus.

Udoh, a striker from Pianese, a Tuscan club playing in Serie C (third division), got infected with coronavirus with local media reporting about it on Thursday.

Local newspapers including La Naziones and La Gazzetta dello Sport have all reported about the development.

Health officials say the 22-year-old footballer, is currently in good condition and in the infectious disease department of La Scotte hospital in Siena.

The player according to media reports placed himself in quarantine last weekend, after feeling feverish.

Italy continues to record increasing number of coronavirus cases and appears to be struggling to deal with the crisis.

Many footballing activities are being played behind closed doors or being postponed to avoid massive spread of the disease.

Qualifiers for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and 2022 World Cup face possible postponement in a bid to prevent the spread.

This weekend’s matches in Switzerland’s top two divisions have all been postponed.

In England management of Newcastle United Football Club placed a ban on handshake at it’s training ground as the Coronavirus continues to spread.

The ban on handshake according to the club is in an attempt to guard against the spread of the virus.

Head coach Steve Bruce revealed that “There’s a ritual here that everybody shakes hands with everybody as soon as we see each other every morning – we’ve stopped that on the advice of the doctor.

“Were like everybody else. Thankfully, we’ve got a superb doctor here and he will keep us informed of what we have to do.

“We’re like everybody else, we’re glued to the TV for where it’s going to go next and let’s hope it doesn’t get any worse in this country.”

More than 78,000 cases of the respiratory disease have been recorded including three cases in Africa so far.

Coronavirus is fast spreading across the world with the rate of spread getting faster outside of China, where the virus first broke out.

The virus is a global public health emergency, according to the World Health Organisation and there are concerns it could soon turn out into a global pandemic.