The club announces that the 16 players, out of 43 tested, will be isolated. Three players have already been declared healthy from the virus.

"This proves that we are taking serious steps, that we are identifying infected as quickly as possible," the club said in a statement.

"This allows us to stop the virus from spreading."

Over 500,000 cases

Players in the state of Rio de Janeiro are allowed to do freezing tests and carry out individual workouts from Monday, while contact training is still prohibited.

Other parts of the country have not yet announced when the clubs can return to training.

Brazil has reported over 500,000 cases of the new corona virus and over 29,000 deaths.