COLCHESTER United are continuing to train this week, in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

But the U's say they are staying 'vigilant' and are minimising the amount of time their players are spending together, at their Florence Park training ground.

Some clubs have either stopped training told their players to train alone, following last week's decision to suspend the EFL programme until April 3, at the earliest.

Colchester are following government guidelines but have decided to keep training at Tiptree and their first team will report for duty there again today.

However, they are limiting the amount of contact time their players have, with the first team and under-23 teams at the venue at different times.

Colchester boss John McGreal said: “We’ve split the training times for the first team and the under-23s to try and limit the amount of players who come into contact.

“At the moment, the first team are having training in the morning, having their dinner and then leaving and then the under-23 players come in.

“We’re just trying to keep it as normal as we can but we’re also very vigilant in everything we’re doing.

“We’ve tried to keep going as we have done, whilst at the same time following all of the advice of the government, the WHO (World Health Organisation) and the EFL.

“There’s a real awareness of cleanliness and the need to wash hands and use sanitisers as much as possible, both before and after meals and around the training ground – it’s been raised to a high level.

“I’ve tried to seek advice from people I know within the game in terms of different managers and football clubs.

“But it’s a completely unique situation and no-one knows exactly what to do, as such.

“Some clubs are training and some are not but I think everyone’s trying to gather information and use it as best they can for their football club, just as we are."

There have been no instances of any Colchester players contracting coronavirus but boss McGreal says they are remaining very vigilant.

He added: “We’re governed by the guidelines – if you develop a cough or a fever, you are told to stay away from the training ground and go and self isolate for 14 days.

“Fortunately, we’ve had no-one displaying the symptoms of coronavirus but we’re monitoring it day by day."