Hundreds of players and staff continue to be tested for Coronavirus across the Premier League each week as officials attempt to keep an eye on infection rates.
Last week 1,388 Covid-19 tests were administered - resulting in 22 positives, the league said in its latest update. The number of positive cases was similar to previous weeks but came as a result of fewer tests. The number of those contracting the illness among players and staff remains small, however, despite growth in the virus across the UK.
The Premier League releases a weekly overview of testing results for, in the organisation’s words, the “purposes of competition integrity and transparency”.
EFC DEBATE: Dominic Calvert-Lewin decision could define rest of season
LFC DEBATE: Worst ever signing in club history is clear
Its most recent update, issued on Monday evening, said that between Monday, March 21 and Sunday, March 27, 22 positive tests were returned from 1,388 players and club staff. The previous week saw 21 positive tests returned - but from 2,655 tests, almost twice as many.
March 7 to March 13 saw 23 new cases picked up, but from 2,998 tests and the week before returned just eight positives from 3,147 tests. Of this season so far, the highest number of new cases recorded was 103 - but that came from 15,186 tests carried out between December 20 and December 26.
The Premier League, which does not offer a breakdown of which clubs the cases were discovered at, uses lateral flow tests and anyone who tests positive is then then asked to take a PCR test to confirm the result. While this week saw a greater percentage of those tested return new cases, that rate was still just 1.59% at a time when Covid-19 is surging in the general population.
Around one in 16 people in private households in England - or 3.5 million people - are likely to have had the illness in the week to March 19 according to the Office for National Statistics. At the weekend, Education Minister Nadhim Zahawi claimed 200,000 children were off school as a result of positive tests.
He told BBC’s Sunday Morning show: "It has ticked up a little bit because infection rates are high but if we have not broken, we have weakened the link between infection rates and severe infection and hospitalisation because of the vaccination."
