Portsmouth act in response to rising Covid cases ahead of busy Christmas period of games against AFC Wimbledon, Oxford United and Plymouth Argyle

The Blues have today shut down their Roko training base to external visitors ahead of Saturday’s trip to AFC Wimbdon.

And the club are expected to step up their testing regime, following the recent spate of illness which swept through the squad.

Pompey bosses are taking precautionary measures following 78,610 new Covid cases being recorded on Wednesday - the highest daily number since the start of the pandemic.

The Premier League has now seen a spate of games called off in response to outbreaks, with Brentford boss Thomas Frank calling for a postponement of this weekend’s fixtures after 13 positive cases were recorded at his club.

There is currently no mandatory testing in the EFL, although staff at members have urged league bosses to bring in a programme with weekend games at QPR, Reading and Millwall already postponed after Covid outbreaks. Gillingham have today closed their stadium after a number of positive tests.

Pompey are today training as normal and have not seen any positive cases among any of their staff.

But the Blues feel it prudent to carry out their own testing, against the backdrop of the spread of the new Omicron as well as Delta variant of the disease.

Pompey have seen illness decimate Danny Cowley’s squad in recent weeks, but there is no suggestion it was Covid keeping players sidelined.

The decision has been made to shut down their training ground to any unnecessary visitors, with the government urging caution about mixing with people unnecessarily.

That will see Cowley’s scheduled press briefing now take place by video call instead of face to face with the media.

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