The Argentine Rugby Union has confirmed that Los Pumas head coach Mario Ledesma, two other members of staff and five more players have tested positive for Covid-19.

In a statement released on Friday, the UAR said Ledesma, his assistants Nicolás Fernández Miranda and Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe, and five players – Felipe Ezcurra, Matías Moroni, Tomás Cubelli, Matías Orlando and Mateo Carreras – had all returned positive findings after a new round of testing.

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‘The national team carried out a new batch of PCR tests,’ UAR said.

‘The results of the swabs showed the appearance of positive cases of COVID-19 in some members of the staff, among them coaches Mario Ledesma, Nicolas Fernandez Miranda and Juan Martin Fernandez Lobbe.

‘Those infected were isolated, are asymptomatic and in good health.’

The new batch of Covid-19 infections comes a new after the UAR revealed that six players – Juan Cruz Mallía, Emiliano Boffelli, Bautista Delguy, Rodrigo Fernández Criado, Bautista Pedemonte and Lucas Bur – tested positive at the team’s training camp last week.

Loose forward Javier Oretego Desio tested positive in late August.

READ: Australia to host Rugby Champs

The latest news about the Covid-19 infections in Argentina’s squad comes after Sanzaar confirmed that the 2020 Rugby Championship will be hosted in Australia in November and December and will be contested by all four Sanzaar nations – the All Blacks, Wallabies, Springboks and Argentina.

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