Golf to return in England in February? Boris Johnson gives us all hope!
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirms he is "looking at the potential of relaxing some measures" ahead of February 15 review...
Golfers in England might be a little teed off not to have played any golf so far in 2021, but that might be about to soon change following the words of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson earlier today.
Courses across England, and also in Northern Ireland and Wales, have been closed for some time as a result of going into lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic. But speaking earlier today, Johnson gave us all some hope of a return as he claimed he is now "looking at the potential of relaxing some measures" ahead of his next review on Covid restrictions on February 15.
UPDATE - GOLF COURSES LIKELY SHUT IN ENGLAND UNTIL AT LEAST MARCH
"We are looking at the data as it comes in and looking at he rates of infection," said Johnson, hinting that the UK was very much on track to give the 13 million most vulnerable Brits a vaccine for coronavirus by February 15.
"But before then we will be looking at the potential of relaxing some measures."
There is hope by many in the golf industry that the sport can ease back into two-ball forms of the game by the end of February - but we will likely learn much more when Johnson makes his next review in three weeks time.
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A further 623 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals to 66,437, confirmed NHS England on Sunday.
A total of 5,970,175 Covid vaccinations have taken place in England between December 8 and January 23, according to provisional NHS England data, including first and second doses, which is a rise of 444,104 on Saturday’s figures.
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Johnson, speaking on Monday at a vaccination site at Barnet Football Club in north London, added: "Now this massive achievement has been made of rolling out this vaccination programme, I think people want to see us making sure we don't throw that away by having a premature relaxation and then another big surge of infection.
"We're going to be looking at where we've got to on February 15. We'll be deciding before then whether we'll be getting schools back, but daily we're looking at data and deciding when we'll be looking to lift restrictions."