The United Kingdom has announced that the Premier League and other Elite sports will continue amid the national lockdown imposed by the government.
This was disclosed by the Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday during a news conference.
Johnson gave a thumbs up and said ‘Yes to the Premier League’ when asked if top-flight football will continue but said that games of non-professional sport will be on hold till after the lockdown.
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The Premier League and other elite sports will be allowed to continue “due to the testing regimes in place for professional sportspeople”. Extensive testing and social distancing measures have been applied across the sport which have proven successful.
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What you should know
Amidst fears of a second wave of the Covid-19, and after over 24,000 confirmed cases of the deadly virus and 310 deaths, Prime Minister Johnson announced a national lockdown in England to last for four weeks, running from Thursday till December 2nd.
The imminent lockdown, which will be England’s second official shutdown in 2020, which was announced due to the surging numbers of Covid-19 cases and to prevent a “medical and moral disaster” for the National Health Service (NHS). Germany also announced a national lockdown last week.
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Over 1,500 Premier League players and staff members were tested in October, with eight positive results returned, and testing protocols have seen them quickly isolated.
Some players like Paul Pogba, Sadio Mane, and Thiago Alcantara amongst the rest recovered.
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The Premier League are confident they can navigate the latest restrictions without the need for a suspension this time round, after a three month suspension in March.
The new restrictions would delay the introduction of fans to the stadiums until at least 2021.