If the omen is correct that you will spend the new year the way you will meet it, then for fans of the English Premier League (Premier League), an alarm sounded.
A speech by UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock on Wednesday morning struck the last city on the list of places where fans could watch elite football from the stands.
As Hancock said, the rise in the number of cases in England means that “it is necessary to extend the third level restrictions to wider areas, including Liverpool and North Yorkshire.
Liverpool's numbers have long looked the least critical against the backdrop of an increasing rate of increase in the number of new cases of coronavirus infection in the UK.
However, at the end of the year, the trend also affected this region.
As a result, on December 31, all of England, with the exception of the Isles of Scilly, was transferred to a stricter regime of restrictions - the third or maximum fourth level.
Whereas, according to the terms of the medical safety protocol, only the settlements of the regions, which are subject to a milder second level of restrictions, could be allowed into the arenas up to two thousand residents.
“Although our region is leading in many respects in terms of introducing medical technologies to combat coronavirus, the rate of transmission of the disease in and around Liverpool is increasing, leading to an alarming jump in the number of infections.
At the same time, the number of detected cases is growing at an alarming rate throughout the country, which puts the risk of the National Health System being forced to work at its maximum capacity.
None of us wanted tier 3 restrictive measures, but hopefully the new measures will help slow and quickly suppress the spread of the virus.
Of course, we will continue to do our best to slow the spread of the virus and save lives and livelihoods, ”said Steve Rotherham, Mayor of Liverpool Metropolitan Area.
The prerequisites for the emergence have appeared long ago.
On Monday, the league canceled the meeting between Everton and Manchester City due to the outbreak of coronavirus among the guests - and although a day later, the citizens were allowed to return to training, this became the most talked about event of the day in the entire Premier League.
On Tuesday, the theme was continued in the story of Fulham: the team has increased the number of cases of COVID-19 on the eve of the London derby with Tottenham.
In early December, Newcastle was banned from visiting Aston Villa.
Representatives of Sheffield, Southampton and West Ham have also been quarantined in recent weeks.
Thus, the disease again, like at the beginning of the year, interrupts the normal operation of the nuclear submarine.
The league management promptly provides fresh statistics, which have not looked very positive lately.
Last week, 18 players immediately went into self-isolation.
This is a record high for the 2020/21 season, although December data was expected to be more optimistic compared to late fall.
The difficult epidemiological situation provoked rumors about the suspension of the championship, as already happened at the beginning of the year.
Moreover, the new West Bromwich Albion helmsman, Sam Allardyce, announced the need for such a step, justifying it with the safety not only of the players, but also of the elderly coaches and technical staff.
However, the 66-year-old specialist was not massively supported: the coach of Manchester United Ole-Gunnar Solskjaer voiced the opinion of most clubs - we must continue to play, because the Premier League calendar is already very tight.
And then there are FA Cup matches, English Football League Cup matches and international performances for a third of the teams in the elite division.
Premier League bosses have denied information about the announcement of the break.
The British government also announced its readiness to continue to continue sporting events on its territory - with empty stands and compliance with the strictest medical protocols.
Nobody knows how the situation will develop further.
But what the degree of concern of football in England over the coronavirus has increased.
For example, from January 4, all clubs (there are 72 of them) in the lower professional divisions will be obliged to regularly test their representatives.
Nothing like this has ever been done on an ongoing basis, and in general, due to the modest financial capabilities of teams in the Championship and less prestigious leagues, monitoring was carried out selectively.
This has led to more than 40 games being canceled in the past month (the last nine were banned on Tuesday evening).
It is easy to calculate that in such circumstances, the financial losses of clubs will be much more than 10 thousand pounds, which are spent on "covid" tests twice a week.
We add that on Tuesday, according to media reports, a record number of new cases of coronavirus per day was recorded in the UK - 53 135 people.
While maintaining similar rates of growth in the new year, the English football community may face much more serious restrictions than just matches without spectators.