Just 1 Premiership player positive for coronavirus ahead of restart

Premiership Rugby’s latest weekly round of coronavirus testing has resulted in one player and three non-playing staff members testing positive for the virus ahead of this weekend’s restart of the 2019/20 season. 

The highest number yet – 989 players and club staff – were tested on Monday, a huge increase from the 804 players and staff tested in week one at the start of July. 

Wednesday’s results were the first time since collective testing started that the number of non-playing staff who contracted the virus was more than the number of players.

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In the six weeks of coronavirus testing so far, 32 Premiership people – 21 players and 11 non-playing staff members – have tested positive. 

Revealing their latest testing update, a Premiership Rugby statement read: “Premiership Rugby can today confirm that on Monday, August 10, 989 players and club staff (the largest number so far) were tested as part of the PCR Covid-19 screening programme. 

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— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 12, 2020

“Of these, four people have tested positive, from three different clubs. Of those four, one is a player and three are members of staff. For the second successive week just one player tested positive.

“Those who have tested positive and their close contacts will now isolate and be assessed in line with the PHE-agreed guidelines.

“Premiership Rugby and the RFU are providing this aggregated information for competition integrity and transparency. No specific details as to clubs or individuals will be provided. The number of positive results will be made public after each round of testing.

“This week, which culminates with the resumption of Gallagher Premiership Rugby, there are two separate testing days. The second one was today (Wednesday 12 August) with the results expected on Friday 14 August.”

The results so far have been:

Week One (July 6) – 804 players and club staff were tested. Of these, ten people tested positive. Six were players and four non-playing staff;

Week Two (July 13) – 856 players and club staff were tested. Of these, nine people tested positive. Seven were players and two non-playing staff;

Week Three (July 20) – 896 players and club staff were tested. Two players tested positive;

Week Four (July 27) – 846 players and club staff were tested. Of these, five people tested positive. Four were players and one was a non-playing member of staff;

Week Five (August 3) – 917 players and club staff were tested. Of these, two people tested positive. One was a player and one was a non-playing member of staff;

Week Six (August 10) – 989 players and club staff were tested. Of those, four people tested positive. One is a player and three are non-playing members of staff.

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— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 12, 2020