Faye Tozer to miss Steps tour dates after testing positive for COVID

Faye Tozer has said she is "baffled and gutted" to discover she has COVID, ruling her out of forthcoming dates on the Steps tour.

The singer tweeted her disappointment that she would not be able to join Friday night's show in Leeds, saying she had been really careful in taking precautions to avoid the virus.

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Sharing an official statement from Steps, she tweeted: "I am baffled and gutted after being so tight on our preventative measures.

"Thankful for our daily testing to have been able to recognise it and so the show can still go on.

"Please give the guys the biggest love as they continue to smash the shows and I hope to be back soon x"

If Tozer's 10-day isolation began on Friday, it would mean that she would be forced to miss the Steps dates at London's O2 next weekend.

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Her bandmates Claire Richards, Lee Latchford-Evans, Lisa Scott-Lee and Ian ‘H’ Watkins also shared in their statement that they had taken extra tests on Friday to make sure they were able to go ahead with the show.

But 46-year-old Tozer's test result throws further dates on the What The Future Holds tour into doubt as it raises the possibility that her bandmates could end up testing positive, too.

The group's statement read: "In unfortunate news, Faye has tested positive for Covid-19 this morning which means she is isolating and will be missing tonight’s show in Leeds. She will be returning to the tour as soon as possible in line with Government guidelines.

"We fully intend to carry on with the upcoming What The Future Holds arena shows as scheduled.

"We have a daily Covid testing regime in place which we have doubled up with an additional round of testing today. The remainder of us in the band continue to test negative and we will continue to monitor both ourselves and our full crew on a daily basis.

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"We hope you join us in sending Faye all our love and, meanwhile, we promise we will be giving 200% to put on the biggest and best show we possibly can."

Steps are due to perform in Glasgow and Brighton next week, before their O2 London dates next Friday and Saturday.

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