Premier League, elite sport to continue during lockdown

Premier League matches - in line with other elite sport - will continue during the impending four-week lockdown it has been announced.

England will enter a second national lockdown in an attempt to curtail the spread of Covid-19.

"We must act now to contain the autumn surge," said Johnson said in a televised address.

The lockdown will see pubs, restaurants and non-essential businesses close; leisure centres and gyms, sports facilities including swimming pools, golf courses and driving ranges fall under the umbrella of non-essential businesses, but schools and universities are exempt.

The new lockdown will run until December 2.

Elite sport – played behind closed doors – will also be exempt.

Oliver Dowden, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, confirmed in the wake of Johnson's address to the nation that elite sport - alongside other industries where working from home is not possible - will continue during the lockdown.

"The changes mean people should work from home where possible," tweeted Dowden.

The EFL released a statement stating its intention to "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." Ergo, the Championship, League One and League Two will continue.

The BBC report that grassroots sports will likely not be spared the lockdown, potentially putting some FA Cup ties at risk. There are nine teams, the BBC adds, involved in 40 upcoming first round ties that fall within the lockdown period that would be considered as competing in non-elite leagues.

Clubs are continuing to lose around a third to a half of their usual revenue in the Premier League, as only a few clubs in the league earn more from television and sponsorship revenue than they do from ticket sales.

Despite some exceptions, transfer spending was down this season and some players were asked to take pay cuts to help the bottom line, and it is possible that further cuts will be requested, and more redundancies for non-playing staff may occur.

The furlough will be extended through to December 2, though.

There is a chance that if the NHS is overwhelmed, then harsher restrictions could be put in place. If that were to happen then almost all businesses could be shut down. It is not possible to know how the state will cope with a second wave that goes beyond the first peak seen in April, but governments across the world have made it clear that further restrictions are always possible if current rules do not act sufficiently quickly or sustainably.

That is less clear. The French government have severely curtailed travel in and out of the country, and Britain will let people travel for work. However moving across and between countries is largely advised against, so this could be something at risk should different countries cope differently with their own second waves. Given the protocols that have been put in place across Europe for professional sports players and the creation of fairly resilient bubbles, it is likely that permission will be given to allow these games to go ahead. There have been no major outbreaks traced back to sporting events without fans.