Tirana, Jan 29 (IANS): Basketball matches will resume in Albania after 11 months of interruption due to the Covid-19 pandemic, president of the Albanian Basketball Federation (ABF) Avni Ponari has announced.

"The Ministry of Health and Social Protection has decided to allow the restart of basketball matches, which were suspended due to the pandemic," Ponari on Thursday wrote on Facebook, calling it long-awaited news, reports Xinhua news agency.

In his post, Ponari showed a photo of the response letter of the Health Ministry, which said that basketball activity can resume, and urged organisers to observe protective measures in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Basketball matches in Albania were interrupted in March 2020 together with other sports activities when the first coronavirus cases were identified in the country. Other sports events had resumed last year, but authorities considered basketball matches as high-risk for the spread of the virus.

On Thursday, health authorities reported 887 new coronavirus cases and 11 Covid-19 related-deaths, taking the total number of confirmed cases in the country to 75,454, with 45,906 recoveries and 1,350 fatalities.