The Premier League club announced Sunday that an unnamed Bournemouth player has tested positive for COVID-19, becoming the eighth case involving an English top-flight club.
Bournemouth said that the player ‘s name should not be disclosed because of “personal security” and that he would remove himself for seven days.
“Following strict adherence to the Premier League’s return to training regulations, the club’s training ground remains a safe working environment for players and backroom staff, who will continue to be tested for Covid-19 twice per week,” said south coast side Bournemouth in a club statement.
The Premier League announced Saturday that there were positive tests at two clubs out of 996 tests conducted on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
The other positive was at a different club which has not been named.
That followed the first round of testing that produced six positive findings announced on May 19 at three Premier League clubs from a total of 748 players and staff-tested,
Those positives included Watford’s Adrian Mariappa and Burnley assistant manager Ian Woan.
For the second round, the number of tests available to each club was increased from 40 to 50.
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On Tuesday, squads started non-contract training for the first time since the Premier League was suspended on March 13.
That an increased number of tests has produced fewer positive findings may be a boost to the Premier League’s ‘Project Restart’ plan to resume fixtures in June. Clubs are expected to discuss moving to contact training on Tuesday.
Officials are also preparing to complete all the remaining 92 games, with Richard Masters, chief executive of the Premier League, stating on Friday that they were “as sure as we can be” regarding beginning again in June.
Several players are still concerned about returning, including Watford captain Troy Deeney and Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kante who stayed away this week from training.
