This is the reason why Newcastle United's Premier League fixtures WILL keep going ahead - despite the coronavirus risk

That’s according to the government’s chief scientific adviser Patrick Vallance, who explained the rationale behind the UK’s decision to continue with the sporting schedule despite many other nations postponing major events.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson revealed that his govenment is ‘considering’ whether to cancel major events – such as sporting fixtures – in the long-run, but Vallance has explained why such measures won’t be taken at this moment.

“Of course there is a risk,” he admitted.

“But as one individual you are releasing the virus from your body as you cough or sneeze, but on average one person infects two or three others. You therefore have a very low probability of infecting a large number of people in a stadium - and a rather higher probability of infecting people closer to you.

“That means that most of the transmission tends to take place actually with friends and colleagues in close environments, not in the big environments.

“It's true that with any cancellation of things you can have some effect, but if you then have a displacement activity where you end up with everyone congregating somewhere else then you may perversely have an increased risk.

“This is not a major way to tackle this epidemic. The major ways to tackle this are to reduce the spread of this across households and the people who have been infected.”