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27th June 2021
02:26pm BST

'Three players tested positive for the virus following stringent real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing procedures on arrival at the team base. 'Team management immediately put the squad into self-isolation as a precaution until specialist medical advice is sought from the Castle Lager Lions Series Medical Advisory Group (MAG). A decision on further team activities will be made shortly. 'SA Rugby Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus emphasised that the team had followed all the necessary precautions since the start of the three-week conditioning camp hosted in Bloemfontein, which included mandatory Covid-19 testing three times a week, and that they would be led by specialist advice before any action is taken.'The Lions squad, with Conor Murray in-situ as new tour captain, are flying to Johannesburg, as planned, this evening. They will be based there for their first week of the tour and play the Emirates Lions next Saturday evening in the city. From there on out, the situation is unclear. Lions officials are urgently reviewing contingency plans before boarding that plane south. Basing the entire Test Series in one stadium - as the IRFU did when the PRO14 returned, last year - is one possibility as it cuts down travel and enables a stronger bubble to be established. Warm-up games may be under threat if the tour is shortened, and the possibility remains on the table of relocating the Test Series, at the least, to Europe, where the Covid situation is much better due to a wide vaccine roll-out in countries such as England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. WATCH THE BRITISH & IRISH HOUSE OF RUGBY:
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