The latest figures for the amount of Premier League players that are positive for Covid-19 has been found to be over 100 for the first time ever. And the latest victim is the Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, as reported by the official Arsenal website, and he not able to be at our game against Manchester City if the fixture still goes ahead.
The Spaniard was one of the earliest football-related victims of the virus back in March 2020, and it was the following week that the Premier League was suspended in a bid to arrest the spread of the disease.
Now 21 months later, the UK is now having record numbers of positive cases amongst it’s citizens, although it is being assumed that the new Omicron variant is not expected to have as much serious consequences compared to the earlier figures.
But it is still spreading at a more rapid rate amongst sportsmen as well as the general public it is looking like our club could be playing to empty stadiums again very soon, or at least with much-reduced numbers of fans at the Emirates.
There are already restrictions in place to stop unvaccinated fans coming into stadiums, but now the government is urging everyone to get the third ‘booster jab’ to increase protection against Omicron, with the Prime Minister stating that 90% of intensive care patients have not had the booster. “I’m sorry to say this, but the overwhelming majority of people who are currently ending up in intensive care in our hospitals are people who are not boosted,” Johnson told the Standard.
“I’ve talked to doctors who say the numbers are running up to 90% of people in intensive care.”
“The Omicron variant continues to cause real problems, you’re seeing cases rising in hospitals, but it is obviously milder than the Delta variant.”
The Premier League are already seeing wholesale disruption to the fixture list, so is it only just a matter of time before the EPL is suspended completely, which is what happened the last time Arteta was tested as positive?