(Reuters) - Two Championship matches scheduled for Saturday have been postponed after Bristol City and Luton Town reported COVID-19 outbreaks in their squads on Friday. City were scheduled to play second-placed Brentford while Luton were set to host Queens Park Rangers. The positive tests come three days after Luton hosted City and beat them 2-1. City said their players showed COVID-19 symptoms but could not test the entire squad and staff as the testing laboratory was closed with Friday being a New Year bank holiday. This is City’s second major brush with COVID-19 after their Failand training ground was closed in November following a number of positive cases at the club. Meanwhile, Luton said there were positive cases among their senior players, staff and immediate members of family which meant others who were in close contact had to go into self-isolation. A number of games across divisions have been postponed in recent weeks due to COVID-19 outbreaks in clubs across the country, including those in the Premier League. Three top flight matches were postponed in December after numerous positive cases at Newcastle United, Manchester City and Fulham. The country is battling a new variant of the virus and over the past few weeks Prime Minister Boris Johnson has ordered millions of people to live under the strictest restrictions to curb its spread after case numbers rose sharply. The United Kingdom has had nearly 2.5 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and recorded over 73,500 deaths. - Reuters
