The number of new coronavirus cases in the Premier League has fallen for the first time in eight weeks, the governing body has revealed.

A total of 14,250 tests were carried out on players and club staff between December 27 and January 2 and 94 new positives were recorded, a reduction of nine on the previous week’s record of 103.

A Premier League statement said: “The safety of everyone is a priority and the Premier League is taking all precautionary steps in response to the impact of the Omicron variant. The League has reverted to its emergency measures and has increased testing of players and club staff.

“The League can today confirm that between Monday 27 December and Sunday 2 January, 14,250 Covid-19 tests were administered on players and club staff. Of these, there were 94 new positive cases (0.65 per cent).

“This is the first week-by-week decrease in positive results for eight weeks.”

The results come after the top-flight festive programme was severely disrupted by postponements as clubs requested games be called off with Covid-19 cases and injuries mounting.

Two top-flight matches were postponed in the latest round of fixtures, Leicester-Norwich on Saturday and Southampton-Newcastle on Sunday.