EPL plans not to pause season amid rise in coronavirus case

London: After two fixtures were postponed due to COVID-19, English Premier League (EPL) on Wednesday said they are not planning to pause the season and will play matches as per the scheduled.

Premier League in a statement said it has the backing of the UK government and have confidence in its COVID-19 protocols to enable fixtures as planned.

“The Premier League has not discussed pausing the season and has no plans to do so. The League continues to have confidence in its COVID-19 protocols to enable fixtures to be played as scheduled, and these protocols continue to have the full backing of Government,” Premier League said in a statement.

This comes following matches between Tottenham and Fulham, and Manchester City’s clash against Everton was postponed after a number of positive coronavirus cases were reported.

“With the health of players and staff being the priority, the League is also fully supportive of how clubs are implementing the protocols and rules,” EPL said.

On Wednesday, Fulham lodged a request with the Premier League Board to rearrange the fixture following a significant rise in positive COVID-19 cases, as well as a number of players showing symptoms.

The Premier League Board has consulted its medical advisors and the decision to postpone the game has been taken as a precaution and with the health of players and staff as the priority.

The UK registered 50,023 new positive cases for the coronavirus over the past day as the country battles a surge linked to the discovery of a new variant that is believed to be more transmissible

As a result of the new variant, parts of the UK, including London, are under the strictest level of lockdown and under other precautionary measures.