Barcelona have had their resource pool depleted dramatically as midfielder Philippe Coutinho, defender Sergino Dest and winger Ez Abde tested positive for Covid-19.
The Catalan club has been hit hard by a number of coronavirus cases, with Ousmane Dembele, Samuel Umtiti and Gavi set to miss Sunday's La Liga match against Real Mallorca after also testing positive.
Earlier this week, Clement Lenglet, Dani Alves, Jordi Alba and Alejandro Balde had returned positive tests.
"Footballers Sergino Dest, Coutinho and Ez Abde have tested positive for Covid-19. The players are in good health and self-isolating at home. The club has reported the cases to the relevant authorities," Barcelona said.
Barca are not the only club affected by the new wave of the virus.
Real Madrid are also dealing with an outbreak, with Thibaut Courtois, Federico Valverde, Eduardo Camavinga, Vinicius Jr testing positive. Luka Modric, Rodrygo, Marco Asensio, Gareth Bale, Marcelo, Andriy Lunin, Isco and David Alaba had contracted he virus earlier this month.
Several other Spanish clubs, including Cadiz, Real Sociedad and Mallorca, have reported cases but no match has been postponed yet.
Under Liga protocols, a club must have 13 players - at least five first-team members and one a goalkeeper - available to play a match. Vaccinated players can return as soon as they test negative.
This raised questions about Sunday's match between Atletico Madrid and Rayo Vallecano because the latter have up to 17 infected players, according to press reports, making it the hardest-hit squad in the first division.
Spain's 14-day infection rate hit a new record of 1,360 cases per 100,000 people on Tuesday, rising from 1,206 cases the previous day and marking a five-fold increase since the start of December.
