16 Celtic players and staff to self-isolate after Christopher Jullien tests positive for Covid-19

13 Celtic players and 3 members of staff have been told to self-isolate following a case of coronavirus.

Defender Christopher Jullien tested positive for Covid-19 and is now self-isolating. In a statement the club confirmed manager Neil Lennon, assistant John Kennedy and 13 players had also been told to self-isolate after being identified as close contacts.

The club insisted Monday night’s fixture against Hibs will be fulfilled.

The statement reads: “Celtic Football Club confirmed today that Christopher Jullien has tested positive for Covid-19 and is self-isolating at home. We wish Christopher a speedy recovery.

“While all of the other members of the squad and backroom team have tested negative, we have been informed by the authorities that, having been deemed ‘close contacts’, Celtic manager Neil Lennon, assistant John Kennedy and 13 first-team players will be required to self-isolate on a precautionary basis as required by the current regulations.

“The Club would like to thank the Scottish FA, JRG and the Scottish Government for their assistance in managing this case. Celtic will, of course, fulfill its fixture against Hibernian this evening.

“Clearly we are hugely disappointed, as we know our supporters will be. The contacts were identified during the period from Wednesday last week, primarily around flight and team coach travel, during which time Celtic applied the same rigorous protocols used for pre-season training camps, UEFA match travel and for all domestic match arrangements in Scotland.

These protocols have served us well in the past, as the Club has not had one positive case in our own ‘bubble’ until now. As we have already stated, Celtic’s decision to travel to Dubai for a training camp was for performance reasons. Whilst we were in Dubai, the announcements made on January 4 significantly changed the COVID landscape.

The reality is that a case could well have occurred had the team remained in Scotland, as other cases have done in Scottish football and across UK sport in the past week.

Celtic has done everything it can to ensure we have in place the very best procedures and protocols. From the outset of the pandemic, Celtic has worked closely with the Scottish Government and Scottish football and we will continue to do so.”

It follows Celtic’s controversial decision to travel to Dubai for a winter training camp. The United Arab Emirates has now been removed from Scotland’s safe travel list due to the rising number of Covid cases connected to travel from there.

The news comes on the same day all football in Scotland beneath the Championship is suspended for three weeks due rising cases of coronavirus in the country.

The top flight and the Championship will be allowed to continue, provided stringent testing protocols are adhered to.

Rod Petrie, Scottish FA president, said: “The Scottish FA is well aware of the efforts all clubs take to comply with the exacting protocols that were conditional on elite football being given an exemption to continue amid the pandemic.

“Nonetheless the continuation of football at all levels has weighed increasingly heavy on me as president, my colleagues on the board and the Joint Response Group as we have watched the new strain of the virus spread rapidly.

“While the national sport has been afforded the privilege of elite sporting exemption, the risk of mass transportation of untested, largely part-time players is something that cannot be sustained as the cases continue to rise and available hospital beds become increasingly scarce.”

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