July 6 – English Premier League grounds will be able to operate at full capacity next season after the British government announced it was sweeping away a raft of coronavirus restrictions in England from July 19 despite increasingly high levels of infection.
The proposals, which will be formally voted upon on July 12, have split public opinion but are being implemented as a result of the success of the vaccine programme that is keeping deaths and hospital admissions to a minimum.
Both social distancing and mandatory mask-wearing will be scrapped under the new plans which are viewed by many experts as a major gamble though Prime Minister Boris Johnson said some venues may choose to make use of vaccine passports for entry.
“We will remove all legal limits on the numbers meeting indoors and outdoors,” Johnson said at a news conference.
“We will allow all businesses to reopen, including nightclubs, we will lift the limit on named visitors to care homes and the numbers of people attending concerts, theatre, and sports events.”
Football fans have either been barred entirely or allowed in restricted numbers since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the UK with a vengeance in March last year.
The infection rate, in particular of the Delta variant, is higher than anywhere in the EU but unless the government stages a u-turn, there will be no restrictions on crowds when new Premier League season starts on August 13 – or at other football grounds across England.
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