"Our sponsors will be concerned about their businesses and our media partners have no certainty when we may play games again or whether we will be allowed to play in front of our fans.

"In the meantime, the club has an annual cost base running into hundreds of millions of pounds.

"We have seen some of the biggest clubs in the world such as Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Juventus take steps to reduce their costs.

"(On Monday), having already taken steps to reduce costs, we ourselves made the difficult decision – in order to protect jobs – to reduce the remuneration of all 550 non-playing directors and employees for April and May by 20 per cent utilising, where appropriate, the Government's furlough scheme."

Levy offers a bleak outlook for the game as Covid-19 sweeps across the globe.

"When I read or hear stories about player transfers this summer like nothing has happened, people need to wake up to the enormity of what is happening around us," he said.

"With over 786,000 infected, nearly 38,000 deaths and large segments of the world in lockdown, we need to realise that football cannot operate in a bubble.

"We maybe the eighth largest club in the world by revenue according to the Deloitte survey, but all that historical data is totally irrelevant as this virus has no boundaries."

Burnley are making Turf Moor available to the NHS in case extra hospital capacity is needed and have promised to issue free tickets to hospital staff for future games.

Parts of the the Clarets' home ground, starting with the Elite Training Centre adjacent to the stadium, will be opened to the East Lancashire Hospital Trust.

In addition, the club will be following Brighton's lead in offering free tickets for healthcare staff for future matches to "recognise and reward the contribution of NHS workers in our region".

"The safety and well-being of everyone in our area is our primary concern," Burnley chief executive Neil Hart said.

"To that end, we will willingly allow the Trust to utilise facilities at Turf Moor to help manage their demand in any way we can.

"Beyond that, when football resumes we will be paying our own tribute and saying thanks to the key workers of the NHS for the incredible jobs they are doing.

"Final plans will need to be determined around a restart of the game but we will be hosting a day of full engagement and participation for NHS employees on a match-day in the future."

Rugby Australia has stood down 75 per cent of its workforce and is to impose salary reductions on its Wallabies after forecasting losses of up £60million because of the pandemic.

Three quarters of the governing body's staff will not be working for the next three months from April 1 and those remaining have been offered significant salary reductions or reduced hours.

RA chief executive Raelene Castle, who has taken a 50 per cent salary reduction, says the cuts will now be extended to the Wallabies.

"We will work closely with RUPA (Rugby Union Players' Association) to reach an agreement which is appropriate given this unprecedented situation," Castle said.

James Haskell's mixed martial arts debut has been put on hold after Bellator announced the postponement of its London show on May 16.

The former England rugby union international was due to make his heavyweight bow at the SSE Arena in Wembley after last year announcing he had signed for the MMA organisation.