Manchester United’s Premier League match against Brentford on Tuesday night has been postponed following the Covid-19 outbreak at the Old Trafford club.
The federation said the decision was made “under the guidance of medical advisors due to the exceptional circumstances” of the outbreak.
Before that, United closed operations at their Carrington training ground to reduce the risk of infection.
In this week 42 Premier League players and staff gave a positive result.
Brighton, Tottenham, Leicester, Aston Villa and Norwich have all had confirmed cases and Sunday’s match between Brighton and Tottenham has been postponed following the outbreak of Covid-19 at Spurs.
United said the positive cases among staff and players reported on Sunday had been confirmed by PCR tests and that the outbreak “needs constant monitoring”.
All of Manchester United’s players tested negative before Saturday’s 1-0 win over Norwich, but some tested positive before training on Sunday morning.
United said in a statement issued at 23:50 GMT on Monday, “Due to cancellations of training sessions and disruptions to the squad, and prioritizing the health of players and staff, the club has requested match re-arranged”. “The Premier League leadership has decided to postpone based on the guidance of medical advisors.”
The federation said the fixture, scheduled for 19:30 GMT, would be rearranged “in due course”.
Brentford has apologized to their fans for the “disruption” but they “respect” the decision, adding that the “health and safety of both players and club staff is at all times put first”.
The latest positive cases in the league are the highest recorded in a seven-day period since testing began in May 2020.
On Thursday, following the introduction of new coronavirus regulations in the UK to limit the spread of Omicron, the Premier League asked clubs to return to emergency measures, including social distancing and wearing a mask.
A union statement on Monday said the frequency of lateral flow checks and PCR tests for players and staff would increase.
Last season, Newcastle United’s Premier League match against Aston Villa was postponed after a “significant increase” in Covid-19 cases at the Magpies training ground.
Later that month, a coronavirus outbreak in Manchester City caused their Premier League match against Everton to be postponed four hours before kick-off.
Villa also had a Covid-19 outbreak in January, which meant no first-team players were involved in the FA Cup third-round loss to Liverpool, while Premier League matches against Everton and Tottenham followed. that was rescheduled.
