Paris (AFP)

Dynamo Dresden (2nd German division) has placed its entire team and staff in quarantine after two new positive cases at Covid-19, and will not be able to play its scheduled league recovery match in eight days, the club announced on Saturday.

All Dynamo Dresden players, coaches and staff will have to observe a period of isolation of 14 days, after the announcement of two new positive cases at Covid-19, two players whose names have not been released and who have no symptoms, the club said.

Dynamo Dresden thus becomes the first club of the two professional championships of the German Football League (DFL) which will not be able to resume as planned on Sunday 17 May. The red lantern of the 2nd division was to move to Hanover for the 26th day.

"The fact is that in the next 14 days we will not be able to train or take part in matches," said Dynamo Dresden sporting director Ralf Minge, who was quoted in the club's press release as saying.

In a first series of tests, while the team was still training in small groups, a player from Dresden had tested positive for Covid-19. The Dresden health authorities had decided to place only the player in quarantine from May 3.

The second wave of tests, conducted on May 4, did not reveal any other positive players or staff members. Since Thursday, the team has resumed collective training and two contact sessions have taken place.

Germany, compared to one of the major European countries that has fared best in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, is the first of the five major championships on the continent to have announced that it will resume competition behind closed doors from 16 may. The first and second divisions have been shutdown since mid-March due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Bundesliga hopes to pave the way for other championships.

A draconian health and medical protocol has been put in place for the resumption of the Championships, based on two pillars: systematic tests to isolate any person, player or staff, positive for the coronavirus. And draconian protective measures, dictating what to do in training, on the move, in accommodation, before, during and after matches.

Of the 1,724 tests carried out during the first wave, 10 were positive, announced the DFL on Monday.

© 2020 AFP