Castleford confirm negative tests after outbreak

Castleford have confirmed that the latest two rounds of Covid-19 have returned negative results.

The Tigers experienced one of Super League’s worst outbreaks in recent weeks, with 20 positive tests in total being produced by players and staff.

It forced the cancellation of several fixtures, with the club unable to field a side with so many self-isolating either due to positive tests or track and trace analysis.

The high number of cases also saw Castleford placed into Stage 2 of the RFL’s three-stage multiple cases framework agreed with Public Health England, which saw a full club shutdown enforced.

The latest tests, however, which were carried out on Friday 6 November and Monday 9 November, have come back negative, with most squad members having also completed their mandatory isolation periods and begun return-to-training protocols.

Despite the club season having finished prematurely already, these tests are required to confirm the players have no underlying effects of coronavirus before being released for the off season.

This excludes the three members of the Tigers’ performance group who tested positive last week as they will need to complete new 10-day isolation periods before beginning their own return-to-training protocols.