The France scrum-half Antoine Dupont looks set to miss France’s Six Nations game against Scotland after testing positive for Covid-19 on Friday.
All the players in the 31-man squad had been tested and so far 11 had been negative, with Dupont the only one to return a positive test, the French federation (FFR) said in a statement. The other results were not yet known.
France are set to play Scotland at the Stade de France on 28 February and the FFR said that, although Dupont did not show any symptoms, he would be “isolated, in accordance with the sanitary protocol”.
The health minister Olivier Veran announced on Thursday that anyone testing positive for Covid-19 would need to isolate for 10 days, instead of seven previously, as France looks to contain the emergence of a variant that first appeared in the UK.
The FFR has ordered further tests on the squad after saying on Tuesday that the head coach Fabien Galthié, forwards coach William Servat and other staff members had tested positive.
All the players were negative on Tuesday but there were concerns about Dupont, who spent time in close contact with Galthié at an awards ceremony broadcast online on Monday, with neither of them wearing a mask.
Dupont, 24, was named player of the championship after last year’s Six Nations, when France finished in second place. Les Bleus lead the table after two wins from two games, with Dupont setting up four tries in the opening match against Italy.