The Premier League again raised an emergency alert. After witnessing a week-on-week decline in Covid-19 cases since August, the Premier League, which is responsible for organizing the tournament, started recording a strong growth in December and in the last seven days, 103 positive tests for the disease have already been done. has reached.
The highest growth in the second semester occurred between 20th and 26th of this month. The organization conducted 15,186 tests, of which 103 were positive. Of the 12,345 tests conducted in the last week, 90 cases were confirmed. The jump is even greater compared to the previous two weeks, with 42 positive in 3,805 tests (6-12/12) and 12 positive in 3,154 tests (29/11 to 5/12).
The cases prompted the Premier League to restart its emergency measures, which had already been abandoned in recent months, as the pandemic eased in the United Kingdom. Planned actions include conducting a very high number of tests. As of August, the English Championship recorded around 3,000 trials per week. Positive results fell in the single digits.
In October, in the week 4 to 10 of the month, only 1,696 tests were conducted. No positive case found. Between the weeks before and after this period, positive tests ranged from one to six, with no major risk to clubs and the championship.
However, in December the situation changed. With the outbreak of Covid-19 on various teams at the same time, the Premier League has already had to postpone 15 English games. For example, the traditional Boxing Day round had a three-game drop on Sunday.
One of the most affected teams is Watford. With so many players sidelined by Covid-19, testing positive or having close contact with an infected person, the club has been forced to join the Under-23 squad for senior-team training for most of this month. Had to look for players.
“The league continues to work with clubs to keep people safe, thereby helping reduce the risk of covid-19 on their teams. Adapt quickly to any future changes to national or local guidelines ,” Premier League management said in a statement.
