The UK Government has outlined the steps it may take to prevent the spreading of coronavirus in a decision which could impact Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and their rivals in the Premier League.
France has placed a ban on public events in a bid to stop the spread of coronavirus, something which could spell an end to this year’s Six Nations for now.
Serie A matches in Italy have been impacted and played behind closed doors in some cases following the spread of coronavirus from China.
The Premier League has always maintained that it is in dialogue with the UK Government and is taking advice from them on the next steps.
Therefore, the thoughts of UK health secretary Matt Hancock on Sunday are particularly important.
The health secretary said the UK Government is considering all options, from closing schools to banning large gatherings of people at sporting events or concerts, if the coronavirus continues to spread in the UK.
He told the BBC: “We are looking at all those sorts of things – we do not rule them out.
Asked if it might follow the Chinese approach of isolating cities with large outbreaks, he said: “There’s clearly a huge economic and social downside to that, but we don’t take anything off the table at this stage because you’ve got to make sure you have all of the tools available if that is what’s necessary.
“It may be necessary, and I’m not saying any of these things are decisions we’ve taken but they’re things we don’t rule out, it may be necessary for instance to close some schools, but right now people should not be closing schools if there isn’t a positive case and they don’t have the advice from Public Health England, and other so-called population-distancing measures.”
From the Scottish League Two all the way up to the Premier League, simply select five matches, send your predictions in and you can win up to £25,000 each week.
On France’s ban public events, Hancock added: “We do not rule them out.
“There’s also a problem if you make decisions like that too early. The top priority is to keep the public safe but we also want to minimise the economic and social consequences.”
More than 3,000 people have died worldwide due to coronavirus, with South Korea the biggest hotspot outside of China with more than 4,000 confirmed cases