EFL takes different direction from the Premier League as they hire company to carry out coronavirus tests on Championship players and staff… and it will cost each club £100,000!
- EFL hired a different company to the Premier League to do coronavirus tests
- Championship sides will start testing this week but will have to foot the bill
- It is estimated that the tests could cost each club around £100,000
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
The EFL have hired Nationwide Pathology to carry out coronavirus testing of Championship players and staff – but clubs will have to foot the bill.
Championship sides will begin testing on Thursday this week ahead of a planned return to training next Monday, although no date has been given for when the season might resume.
The EFL’s decision to use the Leicestershire company is a surprise as it was expected they would use the same firm instructed by the Premier League – Hong Kong-based Prenetics.
Championship sides will begin testing their players for coronavirus on Thursday
The EFL have hired Nationwide Pathology to carry out coronavirus testing players and staff
But unlike the Premier League who are funding the £4million testing exercise in their division, the Championship’s 24 clubs are having to meet the costs themselves, which are estimated to be around £100,000 per side.
In another difference to the top-flight testing programme, in which Prenetics are supplying medical practitioners to conduct tests, the EFL will give clubs the option of using independent testers or their own medical staff.
Championship teams will test their players twice a week and results will be processed within 24 hours. No players or staff will be allowed to return to training unless they have tested negative, while results will not be made public.
Premier League instructed a different company – Hong Kong-based Prenetics – to do tests
Sportsmail understands that before the EFL had arranged a centralised testing programme, promotion-chasing Leeds had already ordered their own on-site testing machine.
The device from Belfast-based Randox Toxicology is able to provide Covid-19 results in two-and-a-half hours but also has the benefit of being able to diagnose other infections and diseases.
Leeds players will now only be tested through the EFL’s official programme but the club could use the Randox Vivalytic machine to test players’ families and wider staff as an extra precautionary measure.
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