Covid: Newcastle United fans urged to be cautious over match

More than 52,000 were at St James' Park for the Magpies' match against Manchester City on Sunday

Newcastle United fans are being urged to carefully consider whether or not to attend Monday night's Premier League game, amid rocketing Omicron cases.

The city's director of public health, Prof Eugene Milne, said fans must decide whether they were vulnerable.

The fixture against Manchester United is still due to take place, despite six matches being postponed last weekend.

Prof Milne also said he expected the government to bring in additional restrictions soon.

Omicron is now the dominant form of the virus in most parts of England and there are likely to be more than 3,000 cases in the North East, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

"Will we end up with more measures? I think because there are still many things we don't know about Omicron there is a bit of doubt about where we need to go," Prof Milne said.

"If you ask me, honestly, I think it will probably happen with the way things are going.

"The question is when is the right time to do that and that is a question for the politicians, rather than people like me."

Prof Eugene Milne said if fans were going to go to make sure they had had their booster jab

The Magpies are yet to have any of their matches called off because of the current wave of infections and are due to host Manchester United on Monday.

Prof Milne added: "People need to make a choice about whether they are vulnerable, about whether they are likely to expose other people to risk by going.

"The Premier League has done a lot of work to try and get in place vaccine passports and testing checks for the games.

"One of the things that does trouble me is people travelling to and from games and the difficulties of distancing, mask wearing and so on.

"I would make a plea to people to use those measures because they can reduce the potential for risk."

He said that if fans decided to go to St James' Park, they had to make sure to get tested in advance and that they had had their booster jabs.

"If you are in the open air it is safer, but the proximity you have to people is going to make a difference."