Liverpool face being investigated by the EFL amid complaints relating to the ‘false positive’ Covid-19 tests that led to their Carabao Cup semi-final first leg against Arsenal being postponed.
A pile up of suspected positive tests saw the Reds temporarily close their training ground, with manager Jurgen Klopp and assistant coach Pep Lijnders also forced into isolation.
The decision was made to postpone the Arsenal clash, which has seen Liverpool give up home advantage in the second leg due to the rearrangement.
However, after facing Shrewsbury in the FA Cup over the weekend, Klopp admitted that only one of the positive tests – the one submitted by Trent Alexander-Arnold – had been an accurate result. The rest of the suspected cases were all considered to be ‘false positives’.
In light of the revelation, The Athletic has now reported that the EFL has received complaints from some clubs seeking clarity on when exactly Liverpool found out about the ‘false positive’ tests.
It is said those who have complained are also unhappy because a number have requested that recent games be postponed due to positive tests but were met with rejection by the EFL.
The EFL could investigate the incident and Liverpool would be liable for sanctions if there is any evidence that they asked for a game to be postponed without a valid reason.
Liverpool are reported to have gone through two rounds of testing, one using lateral flows and a second with PCRs. It was only a third round of testing that revealed the players who were suspected to be positive were actually negative, although it is not known at what stage this happened.
Regarding general lateral flow test accuracy, false positive results are considered 'highly unusual' and successive false positive results are considered ‘extremely unlikely’.
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Source : 90min