Bolton Wanderers are poised to be without key players for this weekend's clash on the road against Rotherham United.
Wanderers will travel to the New York Stadium on New Year's Day on the back of their last three games being postponed due to a Covid-19 outbreak at the club.
A total of 18 people, 14 players and four staff members, originally tested positive for Covid and it prompted the club's Lostock training base to be shut down and reopen on Monday.
Ahead of this Saturday's trip to Yorkshire, Evatt said he will have 'key players' missing for the encounter against the Millers.
He did not disclose the identities of who will be missing specifically, but said that those who have returned after having symptoms of Covid-19 are 'really struggling' to deal with intense training.
Amadou Bakayoko and Gethin Jones are now confirmed to be injury free from a respective torn hamstring and fractured fibula, but it is unclear if they will be involved.
One player who Evatt did confirm will not be playing is Xavier Aamechi, whose loan from Hamburg is being extended for the rest of the season, but will not be available due to Wanderers waiting for international clearance on the deal being extended.
Fresh Covid cases have also been recorded among three players, two of which are symptomatic.
Evatt said: “We’ve got a large majority back in. We’ve still got key players missing through Covid this weekend. I think it’s a really topical discussion at the minute with player welfare.
"What I can say is that it’s really challenging at the moment having to put on training sessions and the players that have been symptomatic returning to training are really struggling with their breathing.
“They’re really struggling to deal with the intensity of football. It’s not good at all really.
“I think what needs to happen is that it should be a case by case basis on football clubs. We have had over 20 cases, players and staff, which is serious and it’s all well and good saying once they’re back in the building they can play.
"Well, what happens with the severity of the illness? What happens with the breathing? What happens when they’re exercising? Nobody knows the answer to that and that needs to be taken into consideration as well.
“We all talk and we all spoke when it went into lockdown about the spirit and fairness of the competition. Now there is no way that any of my players that have been off with Covid will be fit and ready to play on Saturday. Whether we play or not is a different matter - of course it looks like we’re going to have to play - but are we going to be ready to play to the rest of our abilities? The answer is definitely no.”
“We’ve got three still off with Covid and two are heavily symptomatic and a third which isn’t so the two that are symptomatic are going to take time I would think when they do come back and return to training to get them back into a condition to be able to play football again. We’re finding the ones that are symptomatic really struggle with exercise immediately after quarantine.
“Xav will be extended. Xav isn’t actually available on Saturday because of international clearance. It’s crazy that he’s been with us since the start of the season but the loan has to then be restarted again and we have to ask for international clearance again and it’s all a bit of a mess.
"I don’t think people in the governing bodies tend to work weekends or bank holidays so that becomes even more frustrating, so we’ll have to wait for that and it’s another body down for Saturday."
