Ipswich Town manager Paul Lambert has tested positive for coronavirus along with five other members of the club's playing and coaching staff.
The club tested all members of the first-team squad and coaching staff before training on Friday morning after one player reported symptoms and the results were returned this evening.
Town have made the EFL aware of the situation, with the home game against Northampton on Boxing Day and the trip to AFC Wimbledon on December 29 now in real doubt.
“We will be closing the training ground now in line with guidelines until we have spoken in detail with the EFL about the way forward,” Town’s general manager of football operations, Lee O’Neill, said.
The Ipswich squad have adhered to EFL guidance but have been tested sporadically during the opening four months of the season, while working to strict measures at the club's training ground and while traveling to away games in a bid to limit risk.
Town players have not been using the main building at Playford Road to change and have been arriving already changed to train and heading straight home once sessions have finished. They are now using the gym at the training ground, though.
Away games have seen the club take two buses to games to minimise risk, while the Blues have regularly had to prepare for games in makeshift changing rooms in order to limit the number of people using the main changing area at certain grounds.
Striker Kayden Jackson is the only player to have missed games this season following a positive test, though defender Luke Woolfenden was ruled out for a period while he self-isolated after a close contact tested positive.
Manager Paul Lambert missed the 1-0 victory over Gillingham earlier this season while awaiting the results of a Covid test, which came back negative, having been a close contact of coach Matt Gill at a time when he tested positive for the virus.
The Blues were due to take on Peterborough United this afternoon but the game was called off on Friday due to a positive virus test in the Posh camp.
Results elsewhere have seen Town drop to sixth in the League One table.
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