Luton fans were given hope that they will still be able to attend football matches after Bedfordshire was not placed into Tier 3 Coronavirus restrictions.
The Secretary of State for Health, Matt Hancock, this afternoon announced the highest level of restrictions would be placed on neighbouring towns in Hertfordshire and London.
However, in light of spikes in those affected areas, today’s announcement was brought forward from Wednesday’s government review of the current nationwide restrictions, which is still scheduled to go ahead.
All eyes will be on the Health Secretary again in two days’ time to see if Luton’s current Tier 2 status changes, after the latest figures for Luton, reported last Wednesday, showed an increase of 55.8 cases per 100,000 residents, up to 296.6.
Current restrictions mean that, at present, 2,000 socially distanced fans can watch Hatters home games, though that does not include any supporters that live in areas that are already in Tier 3, or that will move into that category, from Wednesday.
Manager Nathan Jones has expressed his hope that fans will still be allowed into matches, with the club set to host promotion-chasing Bournemouth on Saturday at Kenilworth Road.
The Welshman said it was no coincidence that his men had produced their best performances and results this season with fans allowed back into the stadium for the last two home games against Norwich City and Preston North End.
