Blackburn Rovers captain Elliott Bennett has tested positive for coronavirus following the latest round of EFL testing.
Three players from English football clubs Blackburn and Fulham have tested positive for the coronavirus. Blackburn Rovers have said that captain Elliott Bennett was found to be infected with COVID-19 after testing negative last Friday.
Bennett says he doesn’t “feel unwell” and doesn’t have any symptoms.
In a statement on their official website, the Rovers quoted Bennett as saying:
“I feel fit and healthy. Hopefully this sends out a positive message to the community that perhaps many people have or have had the virus without showing any effects.
“I obviously would never have known if we hadn’t returned to training and taken the tests, because I don’t feel unwell and have got no symptoms whatsoever.
“There seems to have been a lot of hysteria about footballers returning to training, but it’s not a big deal at all. It’s the people who are seriously ill in hospital that we need to worry about, not footballers who are fit and healthy, and who aren’t showing any signs of being unwell.”
Fulham, meanwhile, also confirmed that two players tested positive but did not name them. (ALSO READ: Spain mulling return of fans in La Liga in 2020/21 season)
The positive cases at the second-division clubs came after tests on 1,030 players and staff from Monday to Wednesday.
The three players will have to self-isolate for seven days before returning to training ahead of a potential resumption of the competition.
Earlier in the Serie A, Bologna says a test carried out on a member of its staff who was suspected of having coronavirus has come back negative.
The club says that a “further, definitive test” will be carried out in the next few hours.
The players will nevertheless train individually as a precaution.
It would be the first positive case in Serie A since the teams started training in groups if it is confirmed. The entire squad would have to go into quarantine.
Serie A has been suspended since March 9 because of the coronavirus pandemic. The league is hoping to restart on June 13.
