In light of the positive Covid-19 result of a member of the Golden Jaguars senior men’s training programme, the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), the sport’s local governing body, is scheduled to commence their second phase of testing for players and coaching staff today.
This was disclosed by a source close to the federation. According to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, a thorough testing protocol will commence today for all players and officials that are involved with the training programme.
The source also divulged that while the venue for the testing is yet to be finalized, a medical team from the Ministry of Health is expected to facilitate the process. Efforts to contact GFF General Secretary Ian Alves for confirmation proved futile. Calls to his cellular phone went unanswered.
The Golden Jaguars suffered a setback in their preparation for the FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, which is scheduled to commence in March, after a member of the training roster tested positive for Covid-19. According to a source, the player’s positive result was identified at his place of work on January 29th and not at the GFF’s Training Centre in Providence.
Today’s scheduled round of testing is the second phase of screening for players and officials since the start of the team’s preparation for the FIFA World Qualifiers. The GFF conducted its first phase of testing on January 6th, which is more than 25 days prior to this publication.
The scheduled testing will identify whether other players may have unfortunately contracted the virus during this training period, as the sessions are not conducted in a ‘bubble or biologically secure environment’, which increases the likelihood of the virus spreading amongst members of the training roster and staff.
According to the source, there is a possibility that other players might have been affected as the player trained as per normal prior to his positive status being identified. His final session was on January 28th.
Guyana is down to open its group-F campaign away to the ‘Soca Warriors’ on March 25th. The team is currently training five days per week in preparation for the encounter at the Guyana Football Federation (GFF) National Training Centre in Providence. In their second match, Guyana will host The Bahamas on March 30th.
The Guyanese will travel to St. Kitts and Nevis for their third fixture on June 4th before ending their group round at home on June 8th against Puerto Rico. Only the group winner will progress to the second stage of the qualifiers.
