AS Saint-Etienne (Ligue 1 football) announced Thursday that it has screened for five Covid-19 positive cases, including three from the professional workforce.
“The serological screening tests and PCR carried out before the resumption of the activities of the professional group, Wednesday, reveal five positive cases with Covid-19 including three among the professional workforce”, explains a press release from ASSE.
Thirty-three players and 21 management staff were tested when they arrived at the Robert-Herbin Sports Center on Wednesday. Thursday, 38 additional tests were carried out with employees of administrative services whose missions are related to the sports sector, “said the club from Stéphane.
According to ASSE, this screening campaign “demonstrates that people who tested positive had contracted the virus during the confinement period while they were not in contact with each other”.
The people concerned are now confined to their home and are subject to support by the club’s medical staff in relation to the Saint-Etienne teaching hospital. They will undergo additional examinations within 24 hours.
AS Saint-Étienne will effectively resume training on the field, but the players and the technical staff had an appointment on Wednesday to undergo a battery of physical, medical and screening tests for the Covid-19.
Forty-one players are currently under professional contract with ASSE.
The Ligue 1 season has been definitively stopped due to the pandemic. Saint-Étienne must play the final of the Coupe de France against Paris SG in late July or early August.
In England, whose championship resumed on Wednesday, only one positive case was detected during the last series of tests on the players and manager of the Premier League clubs, out of 1,213 people tested.
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