Four Premier League players and staff test positive in latest coronavirus tests

The Premier League have confirmed that four players and staff, from three clubs, have tested positive for coronavirus in the latest round of testing.

The league said 1,008 club staff had been tested in all, over the course of Monday and Tuesday.

That brings up a total of 12 positive results in total after three rounds of more than 2,700 tests.

And it is encouraging news ahead of a crunch meeting between the 20 clubs on Thursday.

Players and staff who test positive have to self isolate for seven days but the latest results will give the Premier League further belief that they are right to try and restart matches.

The next set of testing will be the first to be conducted when at least some of the Premier League clubs have resumed contact training, which was unanimously approved on Wednesday.

A Premier League statement confirmed: "The Premier League can today confirm that on Monday 25 May and Tuesday 26 May, 1008 players and club staff were tested for COVID-19.

"Of these, four have tested positive from three clubs.

“Players or club staff who have tested positive will now self-isolate for a period of seven 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.”

Round Four of Premier League testing will take place later this week.

During that round, the number of tests available to each club will increase from 50 to 60. 

The 20 clubs unanimously voted to move to the second phase of contact training from Thursday.

That is the final stage of training as they look to step up sessions before resuming games next month, with the League favouring a June 12 restart but clubs pushing for the weekend of June 19.

The low number of positive tests will be a boost ahead of a crunch meeting between the clubs with the players and managers firmly onside about a return to games.

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