London, May 30 (AFP) Scottish Premiership clubs have been given a green light to return to training from June 11, it was announced.

The 2020/21 season is set to get underway as scheduled on August 1 after the current campaign was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic, with Celtic declared champions as the Glasgow giants won a record-equalling ninth successive title.

Also Read | Diego Costa, Atletico Madrid Striker, Could Face Six Months in Prison if Proven Guilty in Tax Fraud Case.

But in order for this to happen, clubs would have to be back training several weeks earlier and a statement issued by Scottish football's joint response group said: "To achieve this, we have recommended lifting the Scottish FA's suspension of football, for the Scottish Premiership only, from June 11."

Scottish Professional Football League chief executive Neil Doncaster said: "We are delighted that the Scottish Government have given the green light to the resumption of football training in June.

Also Read | Eddie Nketiah Birthday Special: Facts to Know About Arsenal’s Rising Football Superstar.

"We now have a firm target of starting the 2020/21 Premiership season on the weekend of August 1 and that's a major step forward.

"We will continue working with the Championship, League One and League Two to gauge their ability to start the season and if so, when - which may vary hugely between clubs."

Doncaster, however, warned it would be some time yet before fans returned to football grounds.

"We clearly welcome the prospect of resuming matches, but we have to take all necessary steps to ensure we can have a sustainable league campaign," he said.

"That means a safety-first approach, with games initially played behind closed doors and a range of measures to protect players and staff." (AFP) APA APA 05300957 NNNNrlines with a financial aid package that provides a bridge over this challenging period. Specifically, help the airlines with measures that raise equity financing rather than to increase debt. This needs to be done urgently before it is too late, he said.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman earlier this month while as part of the fourth tranche of the Rs 20 lakh crore economic package to revive the economy announced measures such as easing of restrictions on the utilisation of Indian air space, privatisation of six more airports, among others.

de Juniac also said that aviation should be started with measures that are globally agreed and mutually recognized by states as this will give confidence to travellers.

"The restart of domestic aviation in India this week is a step forward. But more can be done, including the need to harmonise measures across Indian states," he said.

India opened its domestic air travel routes for flying from May 25 after a two months halt. The international operations by airlines, however, remain suspended.

IATA is a member of ICAO's COVID-19 Aviation Recovery Task Force (CART), which is developing the global standards needed for the safe restart of aviation, de Juniac said.

"We are also engaging a number of governments directly, including India. We have proposed a roadmap for restarting aviation that outlines a temporary layered approach to biosafety until a vaccine, immunity passports or nearly instant COVID-19 testing is available at scale," he said.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)