The Premier League match which was scheduled to pit Manchester United against Brentford on Tuesday has been postponed due to the appearance of an outbreak of Covid-19 among the players and employees of the Red Devils, announced the club. "The Premier League council made the decision to postpone based on the guidance of the medical advisers," Manchester United said in a statement late Monday evening. Earlier today, the English club closed its Carrington training center for 24 hours after several players and employees tested positive for the coronavirus.
As the Omicron variant spreads across the UK, causing further restrictions, the outbreak is increasingly worrying English football. UEFA announced on Saturday the cancellation of the Europa League match between Tottenham and Rennes, scheduled for Thursday in London, due to cases of Covid-19 within the English team. Tottenham did not play against Brighton on Sunday, and London club coach Antonio Conte admitted he and his players were "scared".
Leicester traveled to Napoli in the Europa League last week with seven players absent because they were infected with the coronavirus or had symptoms, which did not prevent them from crushing Newcastle 4-0 on Sunday.
Aston Villa also confirmed on Monday several cases of contamination in the team, without however leading to a postponement of the match planned against Norwich, Tuesday during the 17th day.
League asks clubs to toughen anti-Covid protocols
The Premier League had this week ordered clubs to toughen their anti-Covid protocols.
And the British government had decided that any spectator wanting to go to the stadium had to present a complete vaccination schedule or a recent negative test.
The English championship recorded 42 new cases of Covid-19 on Monday, a record since test results began to be published in May 2020. “Between Monday December 6 and Sunday December 12, 3,805 tests were carried out among the players and staff.
Among them, 42 new tests came back positive, ”the Premier League said in a statement.
Only a dozen cases were reported last week.
The league has already asked clubs to put in place health measures such as wearing a mask or social distancing.
The previous record for the number of positive tests in the English league was 40 cases, recorded in early January after two rounds of testing.
