Major update for Portsmouth, Sunderland, Ipswich, Hull and the rest of League One with England to enter a second national lockdown

Oliver Dowden, Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, has confirmed that elite sport won’t be suspended despite more stringent measures being reintroduced amid a second spike of Covid-19 cases.

And the EFL have also released a statement that the Championship, League One and League Two will ‘remain as scheduled’

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced tonight that the country will enter a month-long lockdown from Thursday.

People will only be able to leave their home for education, work – if they unable to work from home – exercise outdoors, essential shopping and medial reasons.

All non-essential retail will close, as well as pubs and restaurants except for takeaway service.

When England entered lockdown in March, football was shut down. The 2019-20 League One season was eventually curtailed and the table decided by a points-per-game formula.

That won’t be the case this time, though, with the EFL confirming the season will carry on.

The statement said: 'The EFL notes the difficult decision taken by the Government in respect of the implementation of a ‘national lockdown’ in England from Thursday 5 November 2020 in response to the rising cases of COVID-19.

‘During this next phase it has been confirmed to the League by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) that elite sport will be able to continue and EFL competitions will therefore remain as currently scheduled (in both England and Wales).

‘Professional football has implemented some of the most stringent, robust and regularly reviewed protocols since the restart in June 2020 and our medical experts’ advice remains in place to fully adhere to these measures which are specifically designed to mitigate against the spread of the virus.

‘The health, safety and well-being of players and Club staff throughout the pandemic has been our first priority and this will continue as we enter this next period of lockdown and beyond.

‘In addition, we acknowledge the Government’s national efforts in tackling this outbreak and would hope that during this next phase of the crisis, our national sport, negatively affected by COVID-19 like many other industries, can continue to provide some form of welcome distraction and give people in our communities up and down the country a sense of normality in very challenging times.’

Pompey suffered a 2-0 loss to Charlton today and sit seventh in the League One table.