As the ongoing pandemic continues to impact Celtic heavily, there was at least one silver lining from tonight’s statement on the official club website.
We know Nir Bitton has returned a positive COVID-19 test result on international duty with Israel.
That, combined with Odsonne Edouard’s positive test in France, could lead to worries that the outbreak had emerged from within the Celtic squad before their departure last week.
However, there was an important detail from the club in the statement.
They said: “For clarification, all members of the Celtic squad who continue to train at Lennoxtown during this period have again ALL returned negative tests yesterday.”
The club also says that Neil Lennon’s squad has returned around 2,000 individual negative tests since the outbreak of the pandemic, with not one positive test.
Clearly, that suggests there is no extended outbreak at the club’s training centre in Lennoxtown and that we shouldn’t fear anyone within the Celtic bubble falling ill as we head into an important week for the club.
That would be a much more serious situation for everyone involved at the Scottish champions.
Celtic can’t recall the players still away from the club because FIFA regulations dictate that teams make them available for competitive fixtures.
All we can now do is keep our fingers crossed that there are no more shocks and that everyone currently on international duty returns safely.
In other news, Neil Lennon feels the Celtic defence deserves more credit for their performances.
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