Coronavirus testing is expected to cost each Championship club around £210,000.

Rovers’ players will need to be checked 48 hours before any potential return to training, and then twice a week thereafter. If matches resume, the twice-weekly testing protocols will continue.

The combined testing for second-tier clubs works out at £5million.

In a statement published this week the EFL said that having been unable to “finalise a comprehensive testing programme on matchdays and non-matchdays” that a return date for training, previously scheduled for May 16, should be pushed back nine days. Collectively the Championship has 108 more games to play of the regular season, and the EFL has outlined a schedule of 56 days to fit the season in.

However, that now looks optimistic, with clubs told not to return to training any earlier than May 25, and the likelihood is that sides will want at least three weeks to prepare before the thought of playing any matches.

The EFL have maintained their stance of wanting to finish the 2019/20 season which has been suspended since March 13 because of the effects of coronavirus.

Chairman Rick Parry has hoped to conclude the season by July 31 to ease the issue of player contracts which would normally expire on June 30.

Clubs would need to inform out-of-contract players of their future plans by June 23, and either offer a deal through to the end of the season, whenever that may be, a fresh contract or allow the player to walk free.

Should the games programme resume then they will all be played behind closed doors, with Rovers having four more scheduled matches to play at Ewood as well as away trips to Cardiff, Millwall, Luton, Barnsley and Wigan.

Tony Mowbray’s side currently sit 10th in the table, three points outside the top six, and haven’t played since a 3-0 defeat at Derby County on March 8.