London (AFP)

Eighteen England league players and staff tested positive for Covid-19 in the last weekly round of testing, the Premier League announced on Tuesday.

"The Premier League confirms that between Monday, December 21 and Sunday, December 27, 1,479 players and staff members were tested to detect Covid-19," the instance said in a statement.

"Of these, 18 people have tested positive. Positive players and staff will now self-isolate for a period of ten days."

This is the highest figure since the start of the weekly test campaign in the English league.

The match between Manchester City and Everton scheduled for Monday had to be postponed a few hours before kick-off due to several cases within the Mancunian club, but the holding of the seven league games scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday is not postponed. cause for the moment.

The duel between Everton and Manchester City is only the second match in the English league to be postponed since the 2019-2020 season resumed in June.

At the beginning of December, the Newcastle-Aston Villa match, counting for the 11th day of the Premier League, had been postponed due to several cases of Covid-19 within the workforce of the Magpies.

In this context, the Premier League considered that the protocol put in place since the start of the season was sufficiently strict.

"The Premier League continues to have complete confidence in its protocols and rules and the way clubs implement them," the League said in a statement on Monday.

In the lower leagues, however, there are more and more postponements.

In the third division, seven of the twelve scheduled for Tuesday had to be canceled.

The number of positive cases in England and Wales hit a new record on Monday with 41,385 cases registered in 24 hours, according to figures from the British government.

© 2020 AFP