Snooker World Championships at The Crucible in Sheffield to be first trial event to welcome back fans

The event, starting at The Crucible Theatre in Sheffield on April 17 will be the first of the test events under the Government s trial scheme.

The plan is to enable the safe return of mass gatherings and indoor events as lockdown restrictions ease in England, with officials preparing a series of trial events over the coming months as they look to find a way for fans to return to sporting venues.It also includes the FA semi-final between Leicester and Southampton on April 18 at Wembley, where 4,000 fans will be permitted to attend. Then follows three 10k runs at Hatfield Park in Hertfordshire, with 3,000 people taking part and 3,000 spectators, on April 24 and 25.

On April 25, 8,000 people will be allowed into Wembley for the Carabao Cup final between Manchester City and Tottenham, before the FA Cup on May 15, with 21,000 people allowed to attend.

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In developing the scheme, officials will take into account three factors – whether an individual has received the vaccine, has recently tested negative for the virus, or has “natural immunity” having tested positive in the previous six months.

The NHS is said to be currently working on ways of providing people with the means to demonstrate their Covid status through “digital and non-digital routes”.

Prime minister Boris Johnson said: “We have made huge strides over the past few months with our vaccine programme and everyone in the country has made huge sacrifices to get us to this stage in our recovery from Covid-19.“We are doing everything we can to enable the reopening of our country so people can return to the events, travel and other things they love as safely as possible, and these reviews will play an important role in allowing this to happen.”