The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is playing host to a coronavirus testing operation, making Spurs the first Premier League club to do so.
A COVID-19 testing and swabbing operation began late last week in the 62,000-seater stadium, opening its doors to patients after being converted into an NHS facility on Tuesday.
The stadium’s basement car park is being used as a site for drive-through tests for North Middlesex University Hospital staff, their families and dependants.
There will be up to 70 tests carried out per day, with 10 nurses on the site between 10am-2pm five days a week.
Spurs’ new home has been been repurposed and fitted out to house patients of North Middlesex Hospital’s Women’s Outpatient Services, helping keep pregnant women away from the hospital and freeing up space for the treatment of Covid-19.
The club’s media cafe, away dressing room, NFL dressing room, flash interview rooms and press conference room are all now being used by NHS staff to treat up to 70 patients per day.
Give COVID-19 the red card
The quicker we work together to stop coronavirus spreading, the sooner we can get back into the pubs, the gyms and stadiums and arenas to see live sport again…
STAY AT HOME. Only leave for the following purposes:
- to shop for basic essentials – only when you really need to
- to do one form of exercise a day – such as a run, walk or cycle, alone or with other people you live with
- for any medical need – for example, to visit a pharmacy or deliver essential supplies to a vulnerable person
- to travel to and from work – but only where this is absolutely necessary
For more info and tips, visit the NHS website.
The government has also issued further detail on what we can do during lockdown.
Everyone should do what they can to stop coronavirus spreading.
This will be welcomed news for the club, who have been criticised for the way they’ve conducted themselves during the UK’s lockdown period.
Manager Jose Mourinho was reminded of his responsibilities after players Ryan Sessegnon, Davinson Sanchez and Tanguy Ndombele went on public training.
Meanwhile, chairman Daniel Levy came under fire when it was announced that Spurs would be furloughing members of staff. The club has since reversed this decision, however.
And talkSPORT’s ALLY McCoist believes Spurs ‘should be congratulated’ for making the U-Turn.
He said: “If there’s anything good to come out of the this, you can argue Liverpool and Spurs have given into peer pressure, but at the same time they’ve definitely listened to their supporters, so that can only be a good thing.
“I think in the current climate they will get a little bit a stick, but overall we should now realise the right thing has been done and let’s move on.
“Using words like ‘embarrassing’ and all that stuff, come on, they’ve made a mistake, let’s move on and they should be congratulated now for doing the right thing.”
