UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson appears to have put the brakes on a swift return for professional sport after revealing the coronavirus transmission rate is still too high to significantly ease the lockdown.
Sport in Britain has been at a standstill for a number of weeks but Premier League clubs are expected to vote on Project Restart's plans to complete the season at neutral venues in a crunch meeting on Monday.
However, Johnson indicated that - while the general population will be allowed to exercise outdoors more than once a day and play sports from Wednesday - they must do so only with those in their own households.
"We want to encourage more and even unlimited amounts of outdoor exercise," Johnson said in his Sunday evening televised address to the nation.
"You can sit in the sun in your local park, you can drive to other destinations, you can even play sports but only with members of your own households."
The message would seem to rule out the prospect of football clubs going back to training anytime soon and does not improve the prospects of finishing seasons which were brought to a halt by the public health crisis.
Football continues to grapple with the potential challenges of a return to action, with a third Brighton player and five LaLiga players testing positive for the virus.
Brighton's chief executive Paul Barber said the unnamed player will go into 14-day isolation. The PA news agency understands the rest of the squad will continue to train both at home and in solo sessions at the club's training ground.
Two other players, whose names have also not been revealed by the club, contracted the virus earlier in the pandemic. They are understood to have since recovered but it is not clear whether or not they have returned to training yet.
Barber said on Sky Sports News: "Unfortunately we have had a third player test positive just yesterday.
"Despite all the measures we have all been taking over the last few weeks, when the players haven't been involved in taking any significant training at all, we have still suffered another player testing positive for the virus.
"There are concerns and I think it is normal for all clubs to have those concerns. We want to make sure we do everything that we can to ensure that the protocols that are put into place are safe and secure and mitigate the risk."
