The EFL have confirmed that there have been no new cases of Covid-19 recorded during their latest round of tests.

A total of 5,524 players and staff from all 72 clubs competing in the Championship, League 1 and League 2 during the period from Monday, March 15 to Sunday, March 21 were tested.

Clubs including Gillingham have been taking part in a twice-weekly Covid-19 mandatory testing progamme since January 11.

It’s the first time zero positive test results have been confirmed among those tested, the news coming a year on from the date of the first Covid lockdown in this country.

EFL chief exec Trevor Birch said: “Today’s results are a testament to the hard work and efforts of all EFL Clubs during what has been a particularly challenging period.

“For 12 months we, like the rest of the society, have been dictated to by this virus. However, the stringent protocols implemented across the board have ensured that we are now able to turn our attention to returning to a certain level of normality.

“Our focus must be on maintaining this low transmission rate and then ensure supporters can return in full as quickly as is safe to do so. Football remains one of the most heavily regulated areas of crowd management, with EFL Clubs already demonstrating they can stage matches safely during a successful pilot programme earlier in the season.”

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