SPORTS VENUES IN England are set to return to full capacity from 19 July after the British government announced plans to ease the remaining restrictions on social distancing.

Crowds have either been kept out entirely or allowed in severely restricted numbers since the coronavirus pandemic took hold in the UK in March last year. Test events with higher attendances have been held as part of a government programme since April.

However, the British government is confident that the success of the vaccine rollout has helped to break the link between rates of infections and rates of hospitalisation and death due to Covid-19.

A final decision on whether to lift the remaining restrictions in England on 19 July will be taken next Monday, but the intention is for stadiums to operate at full capacity from that date.

Recent test events have trialled the use of Covid certification – where spectators must provide proof of either full vaccination, a recent negative test or existing immunity – but these so-called ‘vaccine passports’ will not now be compulsory for entry.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said at Monday afternoon’s press conference: “We’ll move away from legal restrictions and allow people to make their own informed decisions about how to manage the virus.

“From step four we will remove all legal limits on the numbers meeting indoors and outdoors. We will allow all businesses to reopen, including nightclubs, we will lift the limit on named visitors to care homes and the numbers of people attending concerts, theatre, and sports events.”

The decision to allow sports venues to reopen without any restrictions ends a period where spectators have been either totally barred or restricted to small numbers.

A first attempt at reopening with venues at up to one-third of normal capacity on 1 October last year was scrapped amid rising cases, hospitalisations and deaths, with the country entering a second national lockdown just over a month afterwards.

Fans did return in very small numbers when the British government instituted the regionalised tier system at the start of December, but again a spike in cases and deaths led to that being abandoned by the end of that month.

The British government’s Events Research Programme (ERP) got under way in April and is now into its third phase, and has been looking at ways to get spectators back into venues in financially viable numbers.

The findings from the first phase of the ERP were published on 25 June. It concluded that there were no substantial outbreaks linked to the nine sporting and cultural events featured in phase one, and found only 28 positive cases linked to the more than 58,000 people who took part in the test events. Those events included the FA Cup semi-final, one FA Cup semi-final, the Carabao Cup final and the World Snooker Championship.

However, the report said the data should be treated with “extreme caution” due to the low return rate of PCR tests from the participants.

Since 17 May, all venues in England have been allowed to admit spectators on a limited basis as part of step three of Britain’s Covid recovery road map. For outdoor venues with a seated capacity of 16,000 or above, the limit is 10,000 or 25% of capacity, whichever is lowest.

For outdoor venues with less seating than that, the limit is 4,000 or 50% of capacity, whichever is lowest. For indoor venues, the limit is 1,000 or 50% capacity, whichever is lowest.

Monday’s news will be positively received by sports clubs and governing bodies throughout the country.

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters has previously stated his hope that stadiums would be at full capacity for the start of the 2021-22 season in mid-August, while at EFL level the restoration of matchday revenue will have a hugely positive impact on club finances, which have been devastated by the pandemic.

But a leading immunologist said plans to do away with any public health measures for large events after 19 July was a concern.

Denis Kinane, chief medical officer of Cignpost Diagnostics, said: “As lockdown restrictions continue to ease, the likelihood of community transmission increases, especially given the return of mass-scale events such as those we are seeing in relation to the Euros.

“In recent weeks, we have seen alarming statistics relating to positive cases following events. Mass gatherings and events can take place safely, as long as they are underpinned by robust testing and viral hygiene, including masks and social distancing measures. The Government’s mass pilot events assessments appear to indicate that transmission can be restricted when proper viral hygiene and gold-standard PCR testing is deployed before and after events.

“As we witness a rise in community prevalence of Covid-19, largely facilitated by our opening up of society and the delta variant, it becomes even more crucial that gold-standard, reliable PCR testing is used for those wishing to attend large scale events. Therefore, I am concerned that the government is planning to abandon any public health measures for large events after 19 July.”