Coronavirus: Fans will need to show vaccine pass to attend top-level sport in England

Anfield and other Premier League grounds will bring in further checks

Fans will need to show proof of double vaccination or a negative test to attend top-level sport in England under new Covid-19 rules.

The rules will come into effect from Wednesday, 15 December.

Access to any event in excess of 10,000 people in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland already requires a Covid pass.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the rules as part of the Covid 'plan B' measures in England during a news conference at Downing Street on Wednesday.

The Covid pass will also be needed for any unseated indoor venue with more than 500 people attending and any unseated outdoor venue with more than 4,000 people attending.

Johnson said the pass would still be available to people who had received two doses of a vaccine against Covid-19 but the government would "keep this under review" as the booster programme was extended.

He added that a negative lateral flow test would also be sufficient to obtain a Covid pass.

He said the restrictions would start in a week to help keep events and venues open "at full capacity" while giving attendees "confidence that those around them have done the responsible thing to minimise risk to others".

Premier League clubs have conducted spot checks on fans this season, with Brighton, Chelsea and Tottenham among those to make Covid passes mandatory.

The new restrictions are designed to curb a rise in cases and mitigate the risk posed by the newly arrived Omicron variant, which seems to be more transmissible than other strains.

Johnson said 568 cases of the Omicron variant had been detected in the UK so far, although the actual number was likely to be far higher.

Other measures brought in include an instruction for people to work from home where possible from Monday.

The legal requirement to wear face masks will be extended to most public indoor venues from Friday.

However, Johnson said there were exceptions when wearing a mask was not "practical", such as when eating, drinking, exercising or singing.

Previous plans to introduce vaccine passes to access large events in England were abandoned in September.