Manchester United 'close down first-term operations' following COVID-19 outbreak

Premier League club Manchester United on Monday confirmed that it has shut down first term operations following a COVID-19 outbreak.

The Red Devils also said that they are in talks with Premier League about whether the fixture against Brentford can go ahead on Tuesday.

"Manchester United can confirm that following confirmation of yesterday's positive Covid-19 cases among the first-team staff and players, the decision has been taken to close down first-team operations at the Carrington Training Complex for 24 hours, to minimize risk of any further infection. Individuals who tested positive are isolating per Premier League protocols," United said in an official statement.

"Given cancellation of training and disruption to the squad, and with the health of players and staff the priority, the club is in discussion with the Premier League whether it is safe for Tuesday's fixture against Brentford to continue, both from a covid infection and player preparation perspective. Team and staff travel to London will be deferred pending the result of that discussion," it added.

Manchester United had recorded a number of positive COVID-19 cases among players and staff on Sunday morning. A number of players and staff returned positive lateral flow tests and were sent home from training, as per goal.com.

United are the latest club to suffer an outbreak of COVID-19 in England. This came after Red Devils' Saturday's Premier League match at Norwich. Last week, a similar outbreak affected Tottenham Hotspur FC, whose eight players of the first-team squad and five staff members tested positive for COVID-19.

After that many cases, London-based club's away fixture against Brighton & Hove Albion which was due to be played on December 12 was then postponed following a Premier League Board meeting. Spurs match with Rennes in the Europa Conference League was also affected by this outbreak.

( With inputs from ANI )

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