Six individuals across three Premier League clubs have tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19) amid plans to resume the competition in June.
Part of Project Restart’s preparation procedure has been to conduct mass testing on all those involved, which started on Sunday, May 17.
On Tuesday afternoon it was announced that 748 players and club staff had been tested on Sunday and Monday, with six of these tests coming back positive.
The unnamed players and/or staff, who hail from three different top-flight clubs, will now self-isolate for a period of seven days.
The testing is expected to continue in the coming days and it does appear that those who test positive will be kept anonymous for the time being.
The news came as preparations to resume the Premier League ramped up this week, especially in regard to training.
Squads were free to start non-contact training from Tuesday onwards, although most will begin their small group sessions on Wednesday.
However, there is still not full unanimity on best practice for training across all Premier League players.
On Tuesday, Watford captain Troy Deeney (£6.2m) would not return to training this week for fears over his family’s health amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The striker’s young son is classed as a vulnerable individual to the virus.
“We’re due back in (training) this week, I’ve said I’m not going in. It only takes one person to get infected within the group and I don’t want to be bringing that home. My son is only five months old, he had breathing difficulties, so I don’t want to come home to put him in more danger.” – Troy Deeney
The Premier League has been suspended since March 13 because of a COVID-19 outbreak in the United Kingdom. The competition still has 92 fixtures left to fulfil, with a June restart date still believed to be the target for league officials.
3 years, 11 months ago
Some added information from local media sources for anyone curious.
This round of testing covered 19/20 of the PL clubs. Norwich did their testing today so will be included in the next update on Saturday (Testing occurs twice a week).
The PL will not comment on which were the 3 clubs with positive tests, all I've gathered is Wolves, West Ham, Bournemouth and Man United seem to have received the all clear.
In the first round of testing:
PL - 6 positives from 748 tests
Germany - 10 positives from 1724
Spain - 5 positives from top 2 leagues.