At the very moment league leaders Liverpool kicked off their game against Southampton on Monday, the final Premier League game before a rare seven-day layoff, United Kingdom prime minister Boris Johnson gave a national address to announce a national lockdown.
With immediate effect, schools and non-essential shops would be closed and people allowed to leave their homes only to provide for their basic needs. All amateur sports were shut down and the public’s exercise would be strictly curbed to one outdoor activity per day, with restrictions. The UK is in the throes of a new, more contagious COVID-19 variant and entered its third national lockdown, after a regional tier system evidently failed to take hold.