London, May 16 (IANS): Watford manager Nigel Pearson said that people are "closing their eyes to the threat" of the COVID-19 as the Premier League looks to work its way to a resumption. Earlier, the club's chief executive Scott Duxbury had voiced his concerns about the Premier League's "Project Restart."

"God forbid we have a fatality," Pearson told The Times. "People are closing their eyes to the threat. Yes, we would like to restart it but it's got to be safe. We should be cautious. To ignore possibilities is foolhardy. It's about safeguarding people's health."

The United Kingdom government said that the country has reached the peak of the COVID-19 infection but Pearson said that this means there can be more deaths.

"We have to try to believe (British Government) advice that we're being given that we've reached the peak but there's still an incredible number of people losing their lives through this.

"The death toll in the UK is anything between 33,000 and 38,000. That's filling our stadium and then filling it half again. It's a sobering thought," he said.

The club's chief executive Scott Duxbury said earlier that the prospect of playing in a neutral stadium does not appeal to the club.

"We are now told we cannot play our remaining home games at Vicarage Road and the familiarity and advantage that brings. This against a backdrop of players who, having seen their lives turned upside down along with the rest of the world, are suddenly expected to perform as if nothing has happened, despite the rest of society probably still facing the kind of restrictions unenforceable on a football pitch," he wrote in his column for The Times.