The Premier League has confirmed that two members of the league have tested positive for the coronavirus, bringing the total number of people who have been confirmed positive in the league since Tuesday, 19 May, to 8. The two victims of the virus are from two clubs that were not mentioned in a statement issued by the league.
“The Premier League can today confirm that on Tuesday 19 May, Thursday 21 May and Friday 22 May, 996 players and club staff were tested for COVID-19. Of these, two have tested positive from two clubs,” the league statement issued on Saturday said.
“Players or club staff who have tested positive will now self-isolate for a period of seven days.”
This came a day after the chief executive of the Premier League Richard Masters said he is confident that the Premier League 2019-2020 season will resume in June.
“We wouldn’t have taken the first step to get back to training if we weren’t convinced we had created a very safe environment for our players,” he said.
“It is the first step and we have to be sure when we go to contact training we have completed those processes.”
But now that two more people in the league have tested positive for the virus four days after the Premier League gave the go-ahead for clubs to resume limited training where body contacts are not allowed, players might not feel the confidence Masters has been feeling about resuming the season in June.
Recall that some footballers have been expressing their concerns over the assumption of training in small groups amid coronavirus pandemic. Players like Chelsea’s defensive midfielder N’Golo Kante and Watford captain Troy Deeney have since backed out of the training over fears of the pandemic.
When these two players took this decision, the number of confirmed cases in the league was just 6 but now has grown to 8. However, the second round of test which is scheduled to take place on Monday, May 25 and on Tuesday, May 26, will prove to be the game-changer for the Premier League. If the numbers keep going up, it might prove more difficult for the league to resume in June as it is being proposed.
Still, pundits believe that the Premier League might not be moved to stop the “project restart” no matter the numbers due to competition from Bundesliga that has restarted a week ago and Spanish La Liga that has fixed June 8 to restart.
Meanwhile, Bournemouth football club has confirmed that one of the two people in the Premier League who tested positive for coronavirus is a player at the club. The club, however, failed to mention the name of the player. The player will self-isolate for one week before he will be tested again.
