Premier League to drop Covid emergency measures but twice-weekly lateral flow testing will remain

Updated 10/02/2022 at 17:09 GMT

The Premier League is to drop some of its Covid-19 emergency measures following a decision at Thursday's shareholder meeting. Social distancing indoors and twice-weekly lateral flow testing will still be required, but wearing masks inside won't be. The regulations as a collective "remain under regular review" but the expectation is that they will be completely relaxed as of the end of February.

The Premier League is slowly removing its Covid-19 emergency measures

Image credit: Getty Images

The Premier League has agreed to begin relaxing its Covid-19 emergency measures following a meeting of its shareholders.

The decision marks a seminal moment in the league's battle with the coronavirus which began with Project Restart in the summer of 2020 and now - over 18 months later - seems to be approaching an end-point.

The rules had been relaxed last summer following the second wave of the virus, but were ramped up again as the Omicron variant hit the UK a few months later.

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The first batch of measures will be removed from February 11, while the rest will elapse at the end of the month.

That move ties in with the government's plan to end all Covid-19 restrictions at the end of February.

In a statement, the Premier League said: "At today’s Premier League Shareholders’ meeting, it was decided to remove a number of the COVID-19 Emergency Measures from Friday, 11 February.

"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.

"Lateral-flow testing for players and relevant club staff will revert to twice weekly from Monday, 14 February.

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

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