The second round of Covid 19 at the four Irish provinces have shown up no positive cases which means now the provinces can move to the next stage which will allow for a gradual return to contact training.
Testing on players from Connacht and Ulster were conducted two weeks ago, while testing was completed with players and staff from Munster and Leinster. A total of 153 were tested. Overall, 560 tests were conducted, with no positive cases of Covid 19 reported. Although, provinces will be allowed into the next phase, players and staff will still undergo daily medical screening and all will be tested again before the resumption of the Pro14 games.
Meanwhile, in England, 4 positive cases of Covid 19 have been reported from the Aviva Premiership. It was the fourth week of screening in which 846 players and staff took part in from the various clubs. The four persons that have tested positive have gone into isolation. In a statement, the Aviva Premiership said, “Premiership Rugby can (on Wednesday) confirm that on Monday, July 27, 846 players and club staff were tested as part of the PCR Covid-19 screening programme”.
The statement continued, “Those who have tested positive and their close contacts will now isolate and be assessed in line with the Public Health England-agreed guidelines”. “Premiership Rugby and the RFU are providing this aggregated information for competition integrity and transparency.”No specific details as to clubs or individuals will be provided. The number of positive results will be made public after each round of testing.”
Premiership Rugby also released results from previous round of testing. In week one of testing on July 6th there were 10 positive cases from 860 tests, week two (July 13th)seen 9 positive cases from 856 tests and round three seen 2 positive cases from 896 tests conducted.
The Premiership season is due to resume on August 15th. However, the latest cases may have pushed this back further.
