EFL to release latest Covid-19 test results from the Championship

It is already in the public domain that a Preston North End player tested positive on Monday and is self-isolating for seven days.

That player, currently unnamed, is the second from the PNE squad to test positive following on from Jayden Stockley last week.

North End are not allowed to reveal the identity of the second player until after the EFL release test data from the whole of the Championship.

Some clubs test on a Monday and some Tuesday, hence the full results only being made available on Thursday .

By the time the results of the early-week testing are put out, Thursday’s testing will have already started.

Under EFL protocol, players are tested twice a week and that will continue for the foreseeable future.

Results from the late-week tests will be announced over the weekend.

What was widely reported after the second positive test was that others in the PNE squad would have to go into self-isolating after coming into contact with the affected player. However, that is not the case.

While North End resumed contact training on Tuesday with EFL permission, the protocol is that others only need to self-isolate if they come into close contact (two metres) with that player for a period of 15 minutes or more.

Throughout the build-up to the season resuming and during the campaign itself, there are likely to be quite a lot more positive Covid-19 tests at clubs up and down the country.

The last few months have shown how easily the virus can spread.

Stockley and the second PNE player to test positive are both asymptomatic.

Up the road at Blackburn Rovers, Elliott Bennett was asymptomatic when his positive test was revealed last week.

Clubs have put safety measures in place to try and limit the threat of players catching the virus.

North End players wash their own kit, arrive separately at the training ground and do not use the indoor areas at Springfields – the scientific advice is that Covid-19 does not spread as easily outside.

Stockley should soon be back in training subject to medical advice, his seven-day isolation spell coming to an end this weekend.