There has been a massive breakthrough, as the CTS finally agreed that only a player who is positive for COVID-19 will be quarantined rather than the entire squad.
According to multiple sources this afternoon, including news agencies Ansa and Adnkronos, the technical scientific committee accepted the appeal from the FIGC.
There has been a massive breakthrough, as the CTS finally agreed that only a player who is positive for COVID-19 will be quarantined rather than the entire squad.
According to multiple sources this afternoon, including news agencies Ansa and Adnkronos, the technical scientific committee accepted the appeal from the FIGC.
This had been a huge problem from the start of the process to draw up a medical protocol, with clubs, players’ association and coaches’ association all urging the Italian authorities to follow the model used in Germany, Spain, England and others.
The Italian protocol had ruled that if one person – in the squad or staff – tested positive for coronavirus, that individual would be isolated in one room for 14 days, but the entire squad would also be quarantined in a training camp for the same period.
This ran the very real risk of grinding the entire season to a halt for one positive test.
Instead, with the pandemic curve dropping considerably in recent weeks and the whole country moving into Phase Three of the response, the CTS (technical scientific committee) finally accepted it could loosen the restrictions.
Italy will now work with the same rules as in Germany, Spain, England and other nations, so only the individual who tests positive will be isolated.
The others will ramp up testing every couple of days, but be allowed to continue training and playing.