Dr Tony Holohan warns playing major sporting events behind closed doors could pose a risk to players

Playing major sporting events behind closed doors could pose a risk to players, the nation’s top doctor has warned.

Dr Tony Holohan was speaking after a ban on large crowds killed the prospect of a summer of sport for spectators.

But the Chief Medical Officer also held out hope that smaller club games could be viewed differently if restrictions are eased after May 5.

He revealed on Wednesday night that another 49 people have lost their lives in the battle with Covid-19, bringing the death toll to 769.

Not all the new victims died on the same day. The highest toll from yesterday’s cases came last Monday when 14 people died.

The number of people with the virus has increased by 631 to 16,671 cases.

It was also revealed that eight people under 40 have now died from Covid-19. The youngest victim was aged 23.

Racegoers at the Galway Races (©INPHO/Tommy Dickson)

A shocking 667 people over the age of 70 have lost their lives. There have been 12 deaths among the 40-49 age bracket, 29 aged 50-59 and 53 aged 60-69.

There is another suspected 113 Covid-19 deaths that have not been confirmed.

As sporting bodies grapple with whether to stage games behind closed doors, the CMO had a warning on player safety.

“That shouldn’t be happening now. That’s currently the absolute position in relation to that,” he told the Irish Mirror.

“Any situation where we have infection at the level where it is, it is not only a risk in terms of people attending those events to watch them, it’s also a risk for the players getting in close contact so that’s why that’s the position at the moment.

“It is one of a broad range of cultural measures we have to look at as part of anything that might change in terms of restriction of current measures after the 5th of May, a range of measures across society which will include sport.

“There is a difference obviously between attending a club match and being one of a dozen people standing at a sideline, and attending a large event with 50,000 people.

“There is clearly a difference between those two, we will look at all of those kinds of measures in terms of what we are looking at post fifth of May.”