Inside Steve Bruce's extraordinary coronavirus press conference at Newcastle United

Journalists at Newcastle United’s training ground had to walk past a table with a “Coronavirus Notice” and a bottle of hand sanitiser.

“All staff, players and visitors MUST use hand sanitiser before entry,” it read.

There was another bottle on the table where Steve Bruce was to deliver his last press conference for several weeks. He was there to talk about a game, Sheffield United’s visit to St James’s Park, which wasn’t going to happen.

Hours earlier, Chelsea had confirmed that winger Callum Hudson-Odoi had tested positive for coronavirus. The news had followed the revelation from Arsenal that manager Mikel Arteta was in self-isolation following a positive test. That news changed everything.

The Premier League’s statement on coronavirus, which had stated that the weekend’s games would go ahead, was already well out of date at 8.45am this morning when Bruce took a squirt of sanitiser, rubbed it into his hands and sat down.

“We think it will be suspended – whether for two weeks, four weeks, we’ll see,” said Bruce, who revealed that no Newcastle players were showing symptoms of the virus.

“Up until yesterday, we were pretty convinced it would go ahead, but obviously the situation has changed massively in the last 24 hours with players and managers getting it.

“I don’t see any alternative now other than suspending it and seeing where we are in a few weeks.”

Bruce was right. The Premier League have suspended the league until April 3 a couple of hours later, but there’s no telling where the country will be in a few weeks. Should the league be annulled – or played in the summer? Will the outbreak have reached its peak by then?

We just don’t know. There are more questions than answers, but the health of the nation is more important than football.

Just over a week ago Tyneside was dreaming of Wembley after an FA Cup fifth-round win over West Bromwich Albion.

Now we might not see a ball kicked in anger for months as the country comes to terms with a nightmare few months which could claim countless lives. Football, right now, is secondary.