Carlisle United have confirmed that they recorded no cases of Covid-19 in their squad in the latest round of testing.

The Blues' players and football staff underwent mandatory testing on Tuesday this week.

And United have confirmed a clean bill of health from the results.

"In our latest round of testing everybody was negative," head coach Chris Beech said today.

"We were all ready to play tomorrow with all players available if the [Leyton Orient] match had been on.

“We’re doing all of the right things, but as we all know it can come into the building even when you are all doing the right things.

"The lads understand the responsibilities they have, it has been hard, but we’re thankful we can still go to work."

Some 66 EFL clubs tested players and staff over the past week, with 112 positive results from 3,507 individuals.

The remaining six clubs will be tested ahead of their next league fixtures.

Those who have tested positive must self-isolate for 10 days.

Despite those results, the League say they are "confident" the protocols in place are limiting the spread of the virus and allowing their competitions to continue.

In a league statement, the EFL’s Medical Advisors Dr Richard Higgins and Dr.Subhashis Basu said: “Today’s results reflect the current speed at which the virus is spreading amid the emergence of a new variant of COVID-19 but the low reported numbers across the overwhelming majority of clubs means we remain confident that our protocols continue to mitigate against the spread of infection as intended.

“The protocols, supported by the clubs and government, are allowing us to continue playing fixtures as scheduled but we cannot be complacent, which is why recently enhanced matchday and non-matchday COVID protocols have been issued to underpin the re-introduction of a League wide testing programme which commences next week.

“Medical advice continues to support that following these protocols is the most successful route to mitigating against the spread of infection.”

United and their fellow EFL clubs will undergo twice-weekly testing from next week after a funding agreement with the Professional Footballers' Association.

The EFL say they will continue to make a central announcement of Covid-19 test results during the testing process.

The league say they will not be publishing specific details regarding clubs or individuals.

Asked at his press conference today about the move to regular testing in order to keep the game going during the pandemic, Blues boss Beech added: “In terms of keeping the game going, it’s probably better not to test anybody because nobody knows anything. In terms of keeping the game going ethically and safely, more regular testing will make individuals much more comfortable.

"Even [in terms of] myself, [my son] Brandon is back into shielding now so it enables a safer environment to work in.

"It will probably throw up more anomalies, but we’ve got to think beyond football and look at the bigger picture.

"There are a lot of people working hard to fight this in hospitals, and we’re hopefully not far away from the vaccine, so we’ve got to do our bit."