This archive report was first published on 20 June 2020.
On June 20, 2020, the Australian Football League (AFL) announced that its match between Essendon and Melbourne had been postponed indefinitely due to a positive COVID-19 test result.
Essendon player Conor McKenna, who had returned to Australia from Ireland last month, tested positive for the virus despite having undergone a 14-day quarantine and testing negative five times beforehand.
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan confirmed that McKenna had returned a 'low-grade irregularity' in his initial test on Friday, which was later confirmed as a positive result in a second test on Saturday.
McKenna was not showing any symptoms of the disease, but the health department was notified, and close contacts with the player were identified and isolated.
As a precautionary measure, all Essendon players and the coaching group were told to isolate, and they were all tested on Friday with no other positive tests.
The AFL had conducted over 13,000 tests as part of their COVID-19 protocols, and McKenna's was the first positive result.
The club's training facility would be shut down and thoroughly cleaned, and McLachlan emphasized that this was a reminder that the league must remain vigilant in the face of the ongoing crisis.
