Manchester City’s trip to the Goodison Park for their match against Everton on Monday was postponed due to multiple positive cases of coronavirus detected at the club recently.
“Based on strong medical advice the Premier League, in consultation with both clubs, have decided to postpone the fixture,” City said in a statement.
Manchester City had announced on Christmas Day that four members — Kyle Walker, Gabrie Jesus and two other staff members — had tested positive for the virus.
“After the latest round of Covid-19 testing, the club returned a number of positive cases, in addition to the four already reported on Christmas Day,” City’s statement added.
“With the security of the bubble compromised, there posed a risk that the virus could spread further amongst the squad, the staff and potentially beyond.”
The club’s training ground is now expected to close for an indefinite period and it can only be reopened based on the results of further testing of the players and the club members.
This is the second instance that a Premier League match has been postponed due to the increased number of COVID-19 positive cases in this season. Aston Villa’s game against Newcastle United earlier this month was called off as well due to an outbreak at the Newcastle training ground.
The Premier League stated in a statement that the postponement is merely a precaution as they are certain that the protocols are good enough to stop the spread of the virus despite the rising number of cases in the UK.
“Manchester City lodged a request with the Premier League today to rearrange the match following an increase in positive COVID-19 test results received by the club this morning, on top of the cases reported on Christmas Day,” the Premier League said in a statement.
“This rise has created uncertainty and the Premier League Board received medical advice that the match should be postponed.
“The Board agreed to rearrange the game as a precaution, and further testing will now take place tomorrow. The decision has been taken with the health of players and staff the priority.
“The Premier League continues to have full confidence in its protocols and rules, and the way in which all clubs are implementing them.”
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