Yahoo Finance Premier League return boost with zero positive results from latest round of testing
The Premier League's plans for Project Restart was given a fresh boost after there were no positive cases in the latest round of coronavirus tests.
A total of 1,195 players and club staff were tested in the sixth screening session, which took place on Thursday and Friday, and that yielded the second all-clear in results released on Saturday evening. Any players that had tested positive would have missed the league's restart with the minimum period before returning to group training being set at two weeks, as part of ‘return to play’ protocols.
"The Premier League can confirm that on Thursday 4 June and Friday 5 June, 1,195 players and club staff were tested for COVID-19. Of these, zero have tested positive," the league said in a statement.
The news is another step in the right direction for the league, which is scheduled to resume on Wednesday June 17, when Aston Villa face Sheffield United at 6pm and Arsenal travel to face Manchester City at 20:15 on the same evening.
There were six positive cases from three clubs in round one, two from two clubs in round two, a further four from two clubs in round three, none from round four and one from round five, the latter being a fringe first-team player at Tottenham.
That means there have been a total of 13 positives from 6,274 tests administered. Testing will continue on a twice-weekly basis as part of protocols involved with Project Restart.
Clubs are stepping up their preparations for a return to action after a two-month hiatus with Newcastle United, Manchester United and Chelsea all playing intra-squad friendlies at their respective grounds on Saturday.
Likewise Arsenal hosted Championship club Charlton at the Emirates with Eddie Nketiah underlining his goalscoring prowess with a second-half hat-trick contributing to the 6-0 scoreline.
