ARSENAL star Mohamed Elneny has tested positive for coronavirus, his agent has confirmed.
The midfielder follows Egypt team-mate and fellow Premier League ace Mohamed Salah in returning a positive result for Covid-19 while on international duty.
Arsenal star Mohamed Elneny has tested positive for coronavirusCredit: EPA
The Egyptian FA confirmed that Elneny tested positive for coronavirus after arriving with the team in Togo.
The 28-year-old, who has since returned to Cairo, had previously returned negative tests while away with the Pharaohs.
Meanwhile, Liverpool superstar Salah is not suffering from any symptoms and the attacker could return to England later this week.
Hossam Hosny, Egyptian Ministry of Health’s head of the COVID-19 committee, said: “Salah is currently in El-Gouna to complete his quarantine and he will conduct another PCR test on Thursday.
“And I expect that his result will be negative because until now, the player hasn’t shown any symptoms.
“Like any Egyptian citizen, Salah underwent all needed medical scans and tests that showed he is not suffering from any symptoms and he is now following medical protocol with self-isolation.
“Liverpool are communicating with us to check on Salah, and their medical staff have agreed that he will travel to El-Gouna.
“And Salah can return to England if his test result on Thursday is negative.”
Mohamed Salah could return to Liverpool this week if he returns a negative resultCredit: Reuters
The news follows the Premier League’s announcement that they have had a 400 per cent increase in positive coronavirus tests over the last week.
A worrying 16 returned positive results over the last seven days, even though the number of those being examined was 25 per cent fewer than usual.
The international break meant around 400 players and staff who are usually part of the testing programme were not included this time around.
So the sharp increase in Covid-19 sufferers, up from just four the previous week, will be a major concern to clubs and league bosses.
And worryingly, those positive cases do not include any stars who have been found to have contracted the disease while on international duty.
Just 1,207 individuals provided samples in the week up until last Sunday, down from 1,646 the week before.
A Premier League statement said: “The Premier League can today confirm that between Monday 9 November and Sunday 15 November, 1,207 players and Club staff were tested for COVID-19. Of these, there were 16 new positive tests.
“Players or Club staff who have tested positive will self-isolate for a period of ten days.
“The Premier League is providing this aggregated information for the purposes of competition integrity and transparency.
“No specific details as to Clubs or individuals will be provided by the League and results will be made public after each round of testing.”
Uruguay have confirmed that striker Luis Suarez and goalkeeper Rodrigo Munoz had tested positive ahead of Tuesday’s World Cup qualifier to rivals Brazil.
Liverpool star Mo Salah tests positive for coronavirus after linking up with Egypt national team
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
