On Thursday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the UK will move to the "delay" phase of its plan to tackle the virus.

There have been 596 confirmed cases across the UK, and 10 deaths.

"We are considering banning major public events like sporting fixtures," said Johnson.

"The scientific advice is this has little effect on the spread - but it does place a burden on other public services."

Johnson added: "We are guided by the science; there is no medical reason at the moment to ban such events.

"We are not saying no to that sort of measure, we are keeping it up our sleeves. But it is very, very important in order to maximise our interventions that we get the timing right."

European football's governing body Uefa has called an emergency meeting for Tuesday in which the possibility of postponing Euro 2020 by one year is an option being discussed.

Seven of the tournament's matches are set to take place at Wembley Stadium in London, while others are due to be held in Glasgow, Dublin and Cardiff.

Top flight football in Spain, Italy, Portugal, the Netherlands and the United States has been suspended amid the outbreak, while Manchester City's Champions League last-16 second leg tie against Real Madrid, due to take place on Tuesday, has been postponed.

Three Leicester City first-team players are self-isolating after showing symptoms of the virus but the Premier League looks set to continue as normal.

Ireland's FA has announced all football under its jurisdiction has been suspended until 29 March.

Elsewhere in sport, the Australian Grand Prix has been called off while tennis' ATP Tour has shut down for six weeks.

In rugby union, the Pro14 season has been suspended indefinitely while the NBA has suspended its season after a player tested positive.