Watford defender Christian Kabasele has joked that the club are "injecting coronavirus" into players and staff in a bid to avoid relegation from the Premier League.
Adrian Mariappa, alongside two staff members, tested positive for Covid-19 earlier this week, with a further two squad members self-isolating.
The latest update promoted criticism on Twitter.
One football fan wrote: "I’ve never had much opinion either way about Watford before this but they have behaved despicably throughout this all situation, the tactics employed to try to avoid a relegation are ridiculously transparent. I’d be embarrassed if I was a Watford supporter."
Kabasele responded with tongue very much in cheek.
He quote-tweeted with: "So let me explain our tactic: we are doing one injection of #covid19 once a week. We draw the player/member of staff who get it like this we are sure that we never play again and avoid relegation."
The Premier League on Saturday night confirmed two more individuals connected to two unnamed clubs have tested positive for coronavirus following the second round of testing.
That shows a drop in positive tests from the first round of testing, where six people were shown to have the virus, including Mariappa and Burnley assistant manager Ian Woan.
