Manchester City striker Gabriel Jesus and defender Kyle Walker are among the new seven positive cases for coronavirus in the latest round of testing done in the English Premier League.
They alongside two members of staff, who also tested positive to the virus will isolate in accordance with Premier League and government protocol.
Between December 14-20, a total of 1,569 players and club staff members were tested. Six positive cases were confirmed in last week’s round of testing; areas placed in new Tier 4 level of restrictions announced at weekend.
A Premier League statement read: “The Premier League can today confirm that between Monday 14 December and Sunday 20 December, 1,569 players and Club staff were tested for COVID-19. Of these, there were seven new positive tests.
“Players or Club staff who have tested positive will self-isolate for a period of 10 days.
“The Premier League is providing this aggregated information for the purposes of competition integrity and transparency. No specific details as to Clubs or individuals will be provided by the League and results will be made public after each round of testing.”
It means the duo will miss the Premier League games against Newcastle United on December 26, Everton two days later and Chelsea on January 3.
This is coming at a good time for City as Jesus’ obvious replacement Sergio Aguero, who recovering from a knee issue played 16 minutes on Tuesday agai9nst Arsenal.
23-year-old Jesus has scored four times this season but was missing through injury for a month while 30-year-old Walker has been a virtual ever-present for Pep Guardiola’s side.
It could be recalled that then England right-back apologised in May for breaking coronavirus lockdown guidelines twice.
Manchester City are currently eight points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool with a game in hand.
Who else apart from Jesus and Walker tested positive for coronavirus in the latest round of testing?
Although four people have been revealed to have contracted the dreaded virus, but Scott Parker,coach of Fulham tested negative but has been self-isolating this week.
He will therefore not be on the tourchline for their game against Southampton. Assistant manager Stuart Gray and first-team coach Matt Wells will take charge of the team when they welcome the Saints to the Craven Cottage..
Once he returns a further negative result, Parker will lead the squad for their trip to Tottenham Hotspur on 30 December.
As part of the solution to the second wave of infection affecting Premier League clubs, Wolves boss, Nuno Espirito Santo and his Newcastle United counterpart, Steve Bruce have called for two coronavirus tests-a-week for Premier League players.
Under the present rule, clubs must conduct one test of all players and staff per week. This is down from the two that were mandatory during Project Restart last summer.
Only Newcastle United have been forced to postpone their game against Aston Villa due to high number of infection in a week. This made them shut down their training camp.
It is therefore high time to return to status quo to avoid club missing important players and missing games as well as the schedule is already tight.
Previous Premier League coronavirus test results
Round 1: 31 Aug-6 Sep – 1,605 tested, with three testing positive.
Round 2: 7-13 Sep – 2,131 tested, with four testing positive.
Round 3: 14-20 Sep – 1,574 tested, with three testing positive.
Round 4: 21-27 Sep – 1,595 tested, with 10 testing positive.
Round 5: 28 Sep-4 Oct – 1,587 tested, with nine testing positive.
Round 6: 5-11 Oct – 1,128 tested, with five testing positive.
Round 7: 12-18 Oct – 1,575 tested, with eight testing positive.
Round 8: 19-25 Oct – 1,609 tested, with two testing positive.
Round 9: 26 Oct-1 Nov – 1,446 tested, with four testing positive.
Round 10: 2-8 Nov – 1,646 tested, with four testing positive.
Round 11: 9-15 Nov – 1,207 tested, with 16 testing positive.
Round 12: 16-22 Nov – 1,530 tested, with eight testing positive.
Round 13: 23-29 Nov – 1,381 tested, with 10 testing positive.
Round 14: 30 Nov-6 Dec – 1,483 tested with 14 testing positive.
Round 15: 7-13 Dec – 1,549 tested with six testing positive.
Round 16: 14-20 Dec – 1,569 tested with seven testing positive.
