Monday s Egyptian Premier League match between Masry and Harras El-Hodoud has been postponed indefinitely after 16 Masry members tested positive for coronavirus, the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) announced.
"Amid attempts to play the match on time, scans on Monday morning revealed that 12 cases of Masry team members are still testing positive for coronavirus. The EFA board decided to postpone the match due to limited time," reads a stament by the EFA.
On Sunday, the Port-Said based club announced that 12 players and four members of the technical staff tested positive for coronavirus after they took PCR tests during a training camp in Alexandria.
Masry s management asked the EFA to postpone the game, but the governing body initially turned down their request and blamed the club for the infections.
"The EFA managment decided that league matches would only be postponed in the future if 10 players of one team test positive for the coronavirus. The board also asks all teams to follow all the precautionary messures for the safety of their players and technical staff members in order to keep the competition going," the EFA s Monday statment added.
Masry are the second team to confirm more than a dozen coronavirus cases after El-Entag El-Harby, who had their match against FC Masr rescheduled after 19 players and non-playing staff had tested positive.
After being given the green light by the government to resume the league competition, the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) ordered all clubs to run PCR tests ahead of every game. The domestic competition restarted on Thursday after a five-month hiatus due to the pandemic.
Masry had their latest PCR tests after Thursday s 1-0 loss to Zamalek.
Almost three dozen cases were discovered at several clubs, although all of the infected members only had mild symptoms.
Holders Ahly are leading the league table with 49 points after playing 17 matches, 16 points over second placed Arab Contractors, who played one game more.
Masry lie in tenth place with 20 points from 17 matches.
