Premier League and Football League to carry on despite incoming second national lockdown

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the month-long lockdown would start on Thursday and Oliver Dowden confirmed top-level sport would not be affected.

The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport tweeted that people should work from home where possible.

However, he added: “Where this is not possible, travel to a place of work will be permitted – e.g. this includes (but not exhaustive) elite sport played behind closed doors, film & tv production, telecoms workers.”

Johnson ordered the country to stay at home in a bid to reverse the spread of Covid-19.

The Prime Minister said that without action, deaths would reach “several thousand a day”, with a “peak of mortality” worse than the country saw during the lockdown in April.

Pubs, bars, restaurants and non-essential retail across the nation will close from Thursday.

The English Football League announced that it too has been given the green light to continue with matches.

An EFL statement read: “During this next phase it has been confirmed to the League by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) that elite sport will be able to continue and EFL competitions will therefore remain as currently scheduled (in both England and Wales).

“Professional football has implemented some of the most stringent, robust and regularly reviewed protocols since the restart in June 2020 and our medical experts’ advice remains in place to fully adhere to these measures which are specifically designed to mitigate against the spread of the virus.

“The health, safety and well-being of players and club staff throughout the pandemic has been our first priority and this will continue as we enter this next period of lockdown and beyond.

“In addition, we acknowledge the government’s national efforts in tackling this outbreak and would hope that during this next phase of the crisis, our national sport, negatively affected by Covid-19 like many other industries, can continue to provide some form of welcome distraction and give people in our communities up and down the country a sense of normality in very challenging times.”