Premier League to remove many COVID-19 emergency measures

The Premier League said it has decided to remove a number of COVID-19 emergency measures such as wearing face coverings in indoor areas from Friday, after a decision was made at Thursday’s shareholders’ meeting.

More than 20 games were called off in December and January due to COVID-19 outbreaks at several clubs — with a pandemic record high of 103 positive cases over the Christmas period — leaving teams without enough players to fulfil fixtures.

The League adopted emergency measures such as increased testing of players and club staff, which included both lateral flow and PCR testing.

However, the number of cases has since come down to manageable levels and the League said lateral-flow testing “will revert to twice weekly from Monday”.

“While the requirement to ensure social distancing indoors is maintained, restrictions such as wearing face coverings in indoor areas and limiting treatment time will be removed,” the League said.

“The Premier League’s COVID-19 Emergency Measures remain under regular review, with the aim of them expiring at the end of this month“.