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England ODI squad in isolation as 3 players, 4 staff test COVID positive

Tests conducted a day after the team's last ODI against Sri Lanka in Bristol

AP07_04_2021_000188A England's captain Eoin Morgan and teammates during the third one day international cricket match between England and Sri Lanka in Bristol on Sunday | AP

An outbreak of the coronavirus in England's One-Day International squad forced it into isolation on Tuesday.

Tests on Monday, a day after the team's last ODI against Sri Lanka in Bristol, revealed seven infections among three players and four staff. None were named. The squad has gone into isolation dating from Sunday, the England and Wales Cricket Board said in a statement.

Sri Lankan cricketers will head straight into a bio-bubble ahead of their limited-overs series against India after landing back from England.

India and Sri Lanka are due to square off in an ODI and T20 series starting July 13.

"The Sri Lankan team will reach Colombo today itself and enter another bubble after one round of RT PCR test. Even after completion of tour on Sunday, the team had an RT PCR test in UK before boarding the flight," a Sri Lanka Cricket official told PTI.

Meanwhile, the six-match limited-overs series against Pakistan, starting on Wednesday with the first ODI in Cardiff, was still going ahead.

England planned to name a new squad on Tuesday to be captained by Ben Stokes. "We have been mindful that the emergence of the delta variant, along with our move away from the stringent enforcement of bio-secure environments, could increase the chances of an outbreak," ECB chief executive Tom Harrison said.

"We made a strategic choice to try to adapt protocols, in order to support the overall wellbeing of our players and management staff who have spent much of the last 14 months living in very restricted conditions."

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