SHREWSBURY Town chief executive Brian Caldwell insisted “health has to come first” regarding Saturday’s scheduled FA Cup tie at Saints.

The fixture was put in doubt yesterday after a number of Shrews players had tested positive for COVID-19.

At the time of writing, the third-round tie at St Mary’s is still listed to go ahead with Caldwell revealing discussions were still taking place.

"We've obviously had quite a number of positive tests in the mandatory tests at the beginning of the week," Caldwell said on TalkSport.

"We're currently discussing with medical advisors, the EFL, the FA and Southampton to monitor the situation to see what the next steps are.

"It's a very difficult situation we're all going through just now and obviously the current strain of coronavirus is ripping around the whole country, you just have to look at the numbers infected.

"This strain certainly seems far more transmittable.

"We're in discussion with the authorities and medical advisors to see where we go for the weekend's game.

"Absolutely (health has to come first). It's a difficult one, the game's scheduled for live broadcast on TV, we've been without almost a year of income whatsoever.

"Any kind of income would be gratefully received but I guess at the end of the day the most important thing is players' and staff health – and we've got to consider Southampton players and staff health at the same time.

"Health has to come first no matter the loss of financial gain we could get."

Asked whether the game would be going ahead, Caldwell replied: "I don't know for sure at this moment, it's a difficult one to say too much, we're speaking to all parties and I don't want to say too much."