Live bar January 20 news On January 5, UK local time (the dates appearing below are all UK local time), Liverpool's League Cup match with Arsenal (originally scheduled for January 6) was postponed, but in the subsequent FA Cup match on January 9, Liverpool played and beat Shrewsbury. After the game, Klopp said the team's COVID-19 test was "false positive". The Athletic analyzed the beginnings and ends of Liverpool's "false positive" incident and wrote an article to describe it.
(Editor's note: To understand the whole incident, we first need to understand the definition of false positives - the definition of the British government is: an effective test for people who have not been infected with the new crown virus)
TA article compilation (Xiaobian partially adjusted the English narrative logic of the original text to make the whole event process clearer):
After the FA Cup victory over Shrewsbury on January 9, Klopp said the team's previous test results were "false positive". As a result, it was suspected that Liverpool had been able to play the first leg of the League Cup semi-final with Arsenal as usual (originally scheduled for 6 January), but had chosen to apply for an extension and was approved.
According to the organisation that approved the extension, Liverpool suffered a massive outbreak of covid-19 that affected players and staff of up to 40 people. None of the affected players were involved in the match against Shrewsbury, with Klopp saying they were "not eligible", but in fact, officials did not rule that the players were not eligible for the tournament.
The governing body questioned the test because the results of the other three rounds of the test did not support the application to postpone the League Cup match. Klopp said it wasn't that they reported "wrong information," but that it was because of a test error that led to a misunderstanding.
Liverpool sources said the whole incident began with a away match against Chelsea on 2 January. The players spent a total of about an hour in the Stamford Bridge away locker room.
Earlier in the day, a staff member tested positive. He was not on the spot in Liverpool's 2-2 draw with Chelsea, but he had close encounters with other staff and players.
The next day, a player who started against Chelsea tested positive — Klopp had been quarantined since he was positive on January 1, without directing the match against Chelsea, lindez took his place — and several staff members, including Lindez, tested positive in the days following the match with Chelsea. (Editor's note: The above are all official test results)
Lindes tested positive for NHS, and too many of the rest of the staff were negative for quick screening. Still, Liverpool fear the virus has spread in the squad and they will be tested further.
Liverpool decided to test again, this time through a PCR test (more reliable than fast screening). With the first leg of the League Cup semi-final against Arsenal two days away, the team will head to London again. That means they'll share confined spaces and get up close and personal with Arsenal players, which is risky for both people and themselves. However, the authorities did not require an extra round of testing to meet the requirements of the game, which was enough to allow the match against Arsenal to continue. As a result, Liverpool decided to carry out additional tests out of careful consideration.
Sources said that because the results of the official Testing Company Prenetics used by the Premier League were too slow to produce results, other Premier League clubs have used independent testing laboratories. The BioGrad laboratory in Merseyside will undertake the test. The lab and its CEO, Dr. Natalie Kenny, have not yet responded to TA's inquiries.
BioGrad was chosen because it was able to produce results faster than Prenetics. Prenetics' test results can take up to 24 hours to return, and BioGrad is much faster — between about 4 and 8 hours. Liverpool are heading to London and they have BioGrad take on the extra tests so the team can travel to London with peace of mind. At the same time, it is also waiting for the test results of Prenetics.
A source said the club asked to postpone the match just in case. On 5 January, Liverpool closed their training base and applied to the EFL for a game extension before being officially informed. After a BioGrad test, 13 players tested positive.
The EFL realized that the results of Prenetics contradicted BioGrad's. However, the advice of the local public health authorities is that a negative test will not cover a positive test (Note: It can be understood as "it is better to believe that it is there than to believe that it is not"). The EFL postponed Liverpool's League Cup match against Arsenal. Either way, it was enough to postpone the race, as the next batch of tests wouldn't be played until after the race was over.
The Health Security Agency's statement is clear that the game – no matter what – must be cancelled. Therefore, the EFL took action after laboratory examinations, analytical test certificates and discussions.
However, the contradictory results give rise to reasonable suspicion that there was something wrong with independent laboratory testing. If the third round of PCR testing returns to normal after 48 hours, Merseyside's Premier League superintendent Ashton's advice is to get the affected players back to training. The final decision rested with the Premier League and the Ministry of Health and Social Health (DHSC) and was quickly approved.
（WinksK4）