Tests confirm a season-ending knee injury for 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — San Francisco 49ers star receiver Brandon Aiyuk will miss the rest of the season after tearing ligaments in his right knee.

Coach Kyle Shanahan said tests Monday confirmed the initial diagnosis that Aiyuk tore his ACL and would need major reconstructive surgery after getting hit on the knee while making a catch in the red zone late in the second quarter of a 28-18 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. Shanahan said Aiyuk also tore his MCL.

Shanahan said Aiyuk took the news of a significant injury hard when he talked to him at home on Sunday night.

“He was hurting. Just bummed out," Shanahan said. "Exactly how you’d expect. But, BA is a strong dude and a spiritual guy. He believes everything happens for a reason. So, he’ll be all right. But definitely a little down last night. I was just telling him how bad I felt for him and just let him know we’re all here for him through this.”

Aiyuk got hurt late in the first half when was hit on the knee after making a catch in the red zone. He stayed down for a few minutes before being carted to the locker room and was quickly ruled out for the rest of the game.

Aiyuk, who signed a $120 million, four-year extension in late August following a lengthy contract “hold in,” has 25 catches for 374 yards this season. He was a second-team All-Pro last season when he had 1,342 yards receiving.

Aiyuk's absence puts added pressure on first-round rookie Ricky Pearsall, who had three catches in his NFL debut on Sunday that came exactly 50 days after he was shot in the chest during a robbery attempt in San Francisco.

San Francisco also could be without its two other top receivers this week. Deebo Samuel was hospitalized with pneumonia Sunday night that forced him to miss most of the game against Kansas City. Shanahan didn't know when Samuel will be able to return to practice.

No. 3 receiver Jauan Jennings missed the last game with a hip injury and his status for this week remains questionable.

All-Pro tight end George Kittle (foot sprain) and backup receiver Chris Conley (ankle sprain) are day to day.

The injury to Aiyuk is the latest to hit a star player for the 49ers, who have been missing All-Pro running back Christian McCaffrey all season with Achilles tendinitis.

McCaffrey has been working out the past few weeks but is not expected to return to practice this week. Shanahan said McCaffrey has a chance to return after the Niners' bye week before they visit Tampa Bay on Nov. 10.

The Niners have also missed several other key players for significant time, including linebacker Dre Greenlaw, defensive tackle Javon Hargrave and safety Talanoa Hufanga.

That has helped contribute to a rough start to the season for the 49ers (3-4), who are fighting to get back to the playoffs after making it to the NFC title game the past three seasons and losing in last season's Super Bowl to Kansas City.

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San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk, bottom, remains on the field after being hit during the first half of an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs in Santa Clara, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (11) is hit by Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Trent McDuffie, left, and safety Chamarri Conner during the first half of an NFL football game in Santa Clara, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

Tests confirm a season-ending knee injury for 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk

San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk (11) remains on the field after being hit during the first half of an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs in Santa Clara, Calif., Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Eakin Howard)

Tests confirm a season-ending knee injury for 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk

HAVANA (AP) — Cuba's capital was largely paralyzed on Monday and the rest of the island braced for the fourth night of a massive blackout that has generated a handful of small protests and a stern government warning that any unrest will be punished.

Hurricane Oscar made landfall Sunday before crossing the island’s eastern coast as a tropical storm Monday with winds and heavy rain after a night that saw protests by several dozen people in urban neighborhoods like Santos Suárez and central Havana.

Some banged pots and pans in the streets, while others demonstrated from their balconies. Protesters who said they have no water blocked at least one street with garbage.

“The country has completely halted,” said homemaker Mayde Quiñones, 55. She cares for her mother-in-law, who is in her 80s. “This hurts everyone, but the elderly most of all."

The Cuban government has a low tolerance for civil disobedience and President Miguel Díaz-Canel warned on national television Sunday that “we're not going to allow any vandalism, or let anyone disturb people's tranquility."

The prolonged nationwide blackout followed a massive outage Thursday night, part of energy problems that led to the largest protests in Cuba in almost 30 years, in July 2021. Those were followed by smaller local protests in October 2022 and March 2024.

It's all part of a deep economic crisis that has prompted the exodus of more than half a million Cubans to the U.S., with thousands more heading to Europe.

The Cuban government and its allies blame the United States' 62-year-old trade embargo on the island for its economic problems but White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday that the Cuban government’s “long-term mismanagement of its economic policy and resources has certainly increased the hardship of people in Cuba.”

Power remains relatively cheap but increasingly unavailable. The Cuban government has said that it’s producing 700 megawatts when peak demand can hit 3 gigawatts. Authorities said by Monday afternoon that about 80 percent of Havana had intermittent power but people were skeptical.

“We have the fridge full of food and we're scared,” said small-business ower Juan Estrada, 53, whose central Havana business hasn't had consistent power since Friday morning.

Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy said in a news conference he hoped that more reliable electricity will be restored by Monday or Tuesday morning but classes remained closed through at least Thursday.

He said that Oscar, which made landfall on the eastern coast Sunday evening, will bring “an additional inconvenience” to Cuba's recovery since it will touch a “region of strong (electricity) generation.” Key Cuban power plants, such as Felton in the city of Holguín, and Renté in Santiago de Cuba, are located in the area.

Oscar later weakened to a tropical storm but its effects were forecast to linger in the island through Monday.

Many of Havana's 2 million people resorted to cooking with improvised wood stoves on the streets before their food went bad in refrigerators.

People were lining up Monday to buy subsidized food and few gas stations were open.

The failure of the Antonio Guiteras plant on Friday was the latest problem with energy distribution in a country where electricity has been restricted and rotated among different regions at different times. The status of Cuba's other power plants was unclear.

People lined up for hours on Sunday to buy bread in the few bakeries that could reopen.

Some Cubans like Rosa Rodríguez had been without electricity for four days.

“We have millions of problems, and none of them are solved,” said Rodríguez. “We must come to get bread, because the local bakery is closed, and they bring it from somewhere else.”

The blackout was considered to be Cuba’s worst since Hurricane Ian hit the island as a Category 3 storm in 2022 and damaged power installations. It took days for the government to fix them.

The Cuban government announced emergency measures to slash electricity demand, including suspending school and university classes, shutting down some state-owned workplaces and canceling nonessential services.

Local authorities said the outage stemmed from increased demand from small- and medium-sized companies and residential air conditioners. Later, the blackout got worse because of breakdowns in old thermoelectric plants that haven’t been properly maintained, and the lack of fuel to operate some facilities.

Cuba's energy minister said the country's grid would be in better shape if there had not been two more partial blackouts as authorities tried to reconnect on Saturday. De la O Levy also said Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela and Russia, among other nations, had offered to help.

Associated Press writer Josh Boak in Washington contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

Residents play dominoes during a massive blackout after a major power plant failed in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Residents endure the heat during a massive blackout after a major power plant failed in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Residents pass the time during a massive blackout after a major power plant failed in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Oct. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Residents line up to buy bread during a massive blackout after a major power plant failed in Havana, Cuba, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A resident walks his bicycle during a blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Residents pass the time at the malecon during a blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Residents pass the time during a blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Residents walk on a street during a blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Residents walk on a street during a blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Residents walk on a street during a blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A resident walks his bicycle during a blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

A resident looks at his cell phone on the street during a blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Residents walk on a street during a blackout following the failure of a major power plant in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

Residents protest by banging pots and pans in Havana, Cuba, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)