Wisconsin has cut its active number of COVID-19 cases nearly in half in the last five days.

The program announced Saturday that it had 14 active cases of the virus, down from 27 on Tuesday. It said it has had two new cases in the last four days and a total of five new cases in the last seven days. Of the active cases, nine are players and five are staff members.

The improving numbers gave the Badgers enough confidence to start doing limited on-field conditioning work Friday, though they kept the groups small and all players and staff members were wearing masks and observing social distancing guidelines. UW said players would be back for another conditioning session on Saturday.

UW is also holding all of its meetings virtually, while creating more locker room space in the basement of the McClain Center to allow for social distancing.

Wisconsin made the decision to pause all football actives in late October and proceeded to cancel games against Nebraska and Purdue.

The 10th-ranked Badgers are slated to play Michigan next Saturday, something they’ll need to do if they hope to reach the minimum number of games (6) to be eligible for the Big Ten title game.

A further update from UW is expected Monday.