Norwich City have confirmed that one of their players is among the two positive COVID-19 tests from the latest round of testing in the Premier League and that he played in a friendly against Tottenham.
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Two positive COVID-19 test results were recorded from 1,200 test on Premier League players and staff on Thursday June 11 and Friday June 12.
Tottenham hosted Norwich in a friendly on Friday June 12 and the tests results were not revealed until Saturday June 13.
Norwich and Tottenham have confirmed that the unnamed player in question played in the friendly on Friday (which Norwich won 2-1) but Spurs released a statement saying that none of their players or staff came into ‘close contact’ with him and aren’t at risk of contracting COVID-19.
“We continue to operate within the strict guidelines outlined by the Premier League to ensure we avoid any risk of infection spreading should anyone else test positive, including practising social distancing so no ‘close contacts’ are created, which has been defined by Government as being within two metres of a confirmed case for 15 minutes or more. This means that no other member of the squad or staff should be forced to self-isolate other than the person who returns a positive test result and their household members.
“The Norwich player in question has confirmed he had no ‘close contacts’ with our team yesterday and our squad has also verified this. Our testing has continued to return only negative results for COVID since one positive reading was confirmed almost two weeks ago.”
Players from Tottenham will not have to self-isolate ahead of their game against Man United on Friday (Watch live, 3:15 p.m. ET on NBCSN and online via NBCSports.com).
As for Norwich, they host Southampton at Carrow Road on Friday (Watch live, 1 p.m. ET on NBCSN and online via NBCSports.com) and they have confirmed the player will not be available to play in that game.
“In line with the Premier League’s protocols, the player will now self-isolate for a period of seven days before being tested again at a later date. The player must return a negative test result before being able to resume training. The club will not name the player in question and asks that his request for privacy and confidentiality are respected at this time.”
With the Premier League restarting on June 17, teams are finalizing their preparations and have friendly games lined up against other PL clubs and Championship teams in the coming days. There is of course the potential for situations like this to arise every time teams play against other opponents but there are strict and clear protocols in place to make sure that an entire squad of players do not have to self-isolate when a player tests positive for COVID-19.
