Coronavirus: Boris Johnson cancels pilot sport events over fears of second wave

Boris Johnson has announced that the designated sporting events to pilot the safe return of fans this weekend will no longer go ahead as scheduled due to fears of a coronavirus second wave.

The Prime Minister made the announcement on Friday afternoon after lockdown measures were strengthened in localised regions in the north of England on Thursday night, with the increasing number of coronavirus cases causing Saturday’s easing of restrictions postponed for another fortnight.

“We can’t just ignore this evidence,” Johnson said, with ONS data showing that new daily infections of coronavirus are up to 4,900 per day.

“We have to act rapidly in order to protect those we love, and we know measures such as these work.

“We’re postponing those changes for at least a fortnight.”

He added: “Pilots of larger crowds in sports venues and conference centres will not take place.”

The sporting events due to welcome back limited numbers of fans were due to be across horse racing, cricket and snooker this weekend, but fans now face an extended ban from attending.

Glorious Goodwood was due to welcome 4,000 racegoers to the Chichester racecourse this weekend, while 2,500 fans were due to be allowed into cricket matches at The Oval and Edgbaston for Surrey vs Middlesex and Warwickshire vs Northamptonshire respectively.

The Crucible meanwhile was expecting up to 300 fans at each session as the Snooker World Championship got underway on Friday.

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Boris Johnson postpones further coronavirus lockdown lifting