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English Premier League gets approval from UK government to resume 2019-20 season on June 17

To further bolster the Premier League’s hopes to restart the season on June 17, no fresh positive cases of COVID-19 appeared after the latest round of tests.

English Premier League gets approval from UK government to resume 2019-20 season on June 17

The logo is pictured through a glass window at the headquarters of the English Premier League in London. (Photo by Isabel Infantes / AFP)

The United Kingdom government on Saturday gave the Premier League the approval to resume the 2019-20 season on June 17 but asserted that all the health guidelines and social distancing measures be strongly adhered to.

The government gave a green light to all forms of sports to restart from June 1 as the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) published the ‘Stage Three’ guidance.

“The guidance outlines the facilities and processes that will need to be in place, including that there will be no spectators at events, which must be played behind closed doors,” the Premier League said in a statament.

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In the ‘Stage Two’ guidance the athletes were allowed to resume “close-contact” and “competitive” group training with fellow athletes or teammates.

“The Premier League welcomes the Government’s announcement today,” Premier League Chief Executive Richard Masters said.

“All major sports, including the Premier League, have been working together with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to produce this Stage Three protocol.

“We could not have reached this point without the full support of the Government, especially DCMS, Public Health England and the Chief Medical Officer’s team.

“We have provisionally planned to restart the Premier League on 17 June, but there is still much work to be done to ensure the safety of everyone involved.

Meanwhile, to further bolster the Premier League’s hopes to restart the 2019-20 season on June 17, no fresh positive cases of COVID-19 appeared after the latest round of tests conducted in the players and staff on May 28 and 29.

In the last round of tests, conducted on May 25 and 26, four news positive cases were reported which had taken the COVID-19 tally in Premier League to 12. The identity of the infected persons was not revealed but it was informed that they have been asked to self-isolate for a period of seven days.

Earlier this week, the English Premier League clubs had agreed on June 17 as the resumption date for the 2019-20 season. If everything falls in place the competition will return after a suspension of more than 100 days due to the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Premier League Shareholders today agreed to a new provisional restart date for the 2019/20 season of Wednesday 17 June, provided that all safety requirements are in place,” the Premier League said in a statement.

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