1,195 players and club staff tested on Thursday and Friday
Monday 8 June 2020 09:47, UK
There have been no new positive cases confirmed in the latest round of Premier League coronavirus testing.
The Premier League say they tested 1,195 players and club staff for COVID-19 on Thursday 4 June and Friday 5 June.
This is the sixth round of testing and the second time there have been zero positives, with just one positive in total in the last three rounds.
The news is a boost to the Premier League and their plans for Project Restart, with the action scheduled to resume on 17 June, when Aston Villa play Sheffield United and Manchester City face Arsenal.
Since the programme began, the Premier League has now carried out 6,274 tests for COVID-19, with 13 positives and 6,261 negatives.
There were six positives from three clubs in the first round of testing, followed by two positives from two clubs, four positives from three clubs, zero positives, one positive - and now a second all-clear.
Project Restart rules require a player who returns a positive test to remain away from group activities for 14 days (subject to the return of a negative test after seven days, should the player be asymptomatic).
Testing will continue on a twice-weekly basis.
The Premier League 2019/20 season will provisionally restart on Wednesday, June 17 and Sky, the UK's leading football broadcaster, will make 25 games available 'free to air' - including Everton vs Liverpool on the first full weekend back - for everyone in the UK to enjoy.
Sky Sports will show 64 live Premier League games when the season resumes. In addition to the 39 matches already scheduled to be broadcast exclusively live on Sky Sports before the coronavirus interruption, 25 more matches will be available on both Sky Sports Premier League and Sky's free-to-air Pick channel, allowing the whole nation to be part of the return of live sport.
To celebrate the return of the Premier League, Sky Sports will also launch a host of innovative new features and updates to give fans an even more immersive experience and share the moments live with family and friends on virtual platforms.
Hugely encouraging results not just as an individual set of data as not one player or member of staff at a club has tested positive for Covid-19, but collectively the data from the testing now is showing a trend that the medical protocols that are in place at every Premier League are robust.
"The sixth round of results, 1,195 tests with no positives, forms just part of the overall picture in which a total of 6,274 tests have been collected and only 13 positive results returned.
"The government expressed content after the first round of testing, in which only six people returned positive results. The last three rounds of testing have shown that just one person, from a test at Tottenham's training centre, have developed COVID-19, so the feeling among government officials, who asked football's finest medics to implement rigorous hygiene regimes, will now be even happier with how things have progressed.
"The latest results coupled with the overall test data doesn't mean the battle against the virus is won within football - far from it. Over half of the testing data has been taken while clubs have returned to contact training, but the next few rounds of test results will reveal more as clubs ramp up their preparations for a return to competitive matches on June 17 with various friendly matches. Those friendly matches were given the go-ahead at last Thursday's Premier League Shareholders meeting."
