EFL confirms Luton's match with Preston will go ahead as normal

Luton Town's home match against Preston in the Championship on Saturday will go ahead as normal after the Football League confirmed they were not cancelling the latest round of fixtures due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The UK government announced this afternoon, that although they could halt sporting fixtures in the near future, it will not happen immediately, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: "We are considering banning major public events like sporting fixtures.

"The scientific advice is this has little effect on the spread - but it does place a burden on other public services.

"We are guided by the science; there is no medical reason at the moment to ban such events.

"We are not saying no to that sort of measure, we are keeping it up our sleeves.

"But it is very, very important in order to maximise our interventions that we get the timing right."

After the news was made public, the EFL released their own statement, which said: "In light of today’s announcement by the UK Government, EFL matches will continue to take place as normal while the guidance from the relevant authorities remains that there is no medical rationale to close or cancel sporting events at this time.

"The EFL, however, will continue to work with Government and relevant stakeholders to further develop contingency plans to ensure the League is best placed to act as and when any potential restrictions may come into force."

"Immediately following the announcement by the Prime Minister, EFL Chair Rick Parry held discussions with the FA and Premier League and agreed on a consistent approach ahead of this weekend’s round of fixtures.

"Matters will be further discussed at a meeting called by European Football’s Governing body, UEFA, on Tuesday 17 March.

"The League will continue to liaise with the Government regarding ongoing developments and will continue to work with Clubs to ensure players, staff and supporters are updated and appraised accordingly.

"These matters are, of course, subject to change and we will update as appropriate."