NEGRI Sembilan have denied that a breach in the standard operating procedure (SOP) led to 20 players and four officials testing positive for Covid-19 recently.
Negri general manager Firdaus Bhari said the club had strictly followed the government's SOP during their training sessions and friendly matches.
"We have always placed a strong emphasis on guidelines and have also implemented the sports bubble model," said Firdaus.
"We have investigated the matter and did not find any of our players or officials breaking the SOP rules.
"We are not sure how the virus infected our players and officials as we had adhered to the SOP.
"Thus, we have no intention to further investigate it."
As a result, Negri withdrew from the Malaysia Cup following the positive cases on Oct 18.
Those infected are serving the 10-day home quarantine process, monitored by the Health Ministry.
The Deer's remaining players and officials (who were not part of the 24) were tested for a second time yesterday. They will get their results today.
Meanwhile, Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Faizal Azumu has stressed that all parties must learn from the Negri issue.
"Although the government had prepared strict guidelines to follow, people should also adopt self-SOP to stay healthy," said Faizal during the Peja Trophy Fun Ride event in Ipoh yesterday.
"We all have to understand what we can and cannot do.
"If we have Covid-19, we could infect a lot more people, including our loved ones.
"This will hinder our efforts to reopen the economic sector, sports and so on."
Negri had done well by winning this season's Premier League and were hoping to shine in the Malaysia Cup.
K. Devan's side are expected to resume training after all of his players have recovered to prepare for their return to the Super League next season.
Malaysia Football League (MFL) were previously forced to postpone a few Super League matches due to positive cases.
The Malaysia Cup will resume on Friday.