Back to the Premier League Newsfeed

'It's not possible to know where someone got COVID-19': Cheltenham organisers defend their decision to host last month's races amid coronavirus outbreak in the UK

Cheltenham Festival organisers have defended their decision to go ahead with the meeting last month after fears were raised that the mass gathering of people for the annual horse racing event helped to spread the coronavirus more widely around Britain.

Tens of thousands of people attended the four-day event in southwest England as no government social distancing measures were in place at the time.

Sporting events were being canceled elsewhere in Europe at the time but it was only as the Festival was reaching its conclusion that the English Premier League was halted.