EFL chairman Rick Parry says plans for a circuit breaker have been discussed

Rovers’ match with Scunthorpe United was postponed after a raft of late positive cases whilst City are one of only seven Championship games being played this weekend.

A total of 19 games have been called off across all three divisions with teams split on whether a break would help with the season.

In the Premier League, it has been discussed amongst clubs of potentially putting a circuit breaker on the current campaign. It would see them pause for the festive period and return in mid January.

Such plans have been mooted amongst the EFL teams but nothing has rubber stamped as of yet.

"We have discussed it," he said whilst appearing on BBC programme Football Focus, when quizzed on whether a circuit breaker could take place.

"We wondered whether a short, sharp circuit breaker this weekend would help, but frankly it wouldn’t.

"There is no scientific evidence to suggest it would help and if you look at the geographical spread, there are areas where clearly games can go ahead and areas where they can’t.

"The talk of the news is about another possible lockdown after Christmas, so that decision may be taken out of our hands, but we are getting more information and listening to the scientists, they need more data to try and work out where we are going with this new strain.

"It is too early to tell, frankly, next week we may be in a different position. "If we think a circuit breaker will help, we will do it, but at the moment no scientific evidence suggests at this moment in time that it would help.

But predicting the future at this point is almost impossible. "We have got to stick together, we have got to stay calm and keep on making balanced decisions based on the very latest information available."

Sheffield United’s match with QPR on Monday was the start of a number of games that were called off this week.

Since then Cardiff City vs Derby County, Coventry vs Stoke, Millwall v Preston North End, QPR v Swansea and Reading versus Luton Town have all been called off.

Welsh clubs Cardiff, Newport and Swansea will find out on Monday how the Welsh Government will respond to the Omicron variant.

Already nightclubs have been announced to close on December 27, so two of City’s opponents and one of Rovers’ league rivals may face different circumstances to the teams across the border.

"It has been a difficult week and similar to the Premier League, we have seen a raft of postponements and a real escalation of cases over the last few days. "It actually feels like quite an achievement to get 17 games away this weekend with everything that has been going on.

"It is a time for cool heads, keep calm and everybody pulling together. We have greater challenges than football at the moment, and as ever, the health and welfare of players, staff, and spectators is the priority, but who knows what next week will look like?"

Earlier in the week, the EFL updated their protocols for clubs to minimalism the spread of COVID.

Clubs will have to fulfil their fixtures if they have a goalkeeper and 14 first-team players, or any youth players with one senior appearance to their name.

No decision has been made yet on whether games will go behind-closed-doors, but this week is the first that COVID passes have been introduced, with fans needing to prove they are at least double vaccinated or proof of a negative lateral flow test.

"We have introduced new criteria for clubs and what we are basically saying is if clubs have a squad of 14, including a goalkeeper, then games should go ahead," he said. "Clearly we are having to be very adaptable and we are consulting with clubs, because this is escalating all the time.

“Clearly the rates of infection have gone up dramatically and they are likely to go up again, so it is a case of taking it one day at a time and trying to keep calm, balanced, and doing our best to get the season completed."