England captain Joe Root said his players will not be shaking hands on their tour of Sri Lanka in a bid to avoid the coronavirus.

Root was quizzed on the coronavirus as England prepared to depart for their two-Test tour. The Yorkshire batsman said instead of shaking hands, England players will greet each other with fist bumps.

England were hit by a series of gastroenteritis and flu problems before and during the first Test on their recent tour of South Africa.

“After the illnesses that swept through the squad in South Africa, we are well aware of the importance of keeping contact to a minimum and we’ve been given some really sound and sensible advice from our medical team to help prevent spreading germs and bacteria,” Root said on Monday.

“We are not shaking hands with each other, using instead the well-established fist bump, and we are washing hands regularly and wiping down surfaces using the anti-bacterial wipes and gels we've been given in our immunity packs.

“There is no suggestion that the tour will be affected, but of course it is an evolving situation so we are in regular contact with the authorities and will proceed as advised, but at this stage we fully expect the tour to continue as planned.”

Uefa move

In Amsterdam, the Uefa has set up a working group with the European Leagues association to handle any fixture congestion which may be caused by coronavirus postponements. Uefa general secretary Theodore Theodoridis told Uefa’s congress on Tuesday that the body had been set up on Monday to “work on calendar issues”.

During the congress, Fifa president Gianni Infantino had said “it is important to work with authorities but not to panic” but Swiss FA president Dominique Blanc warned of serious consequences to the sport.

The Swiss soccer league (SFL) has been put on hold until at least March 23 after the clubs rejected the possibility of playing matches behind closed doors.

NBA warning

In Los Angeles, NBA stars have been given a series of recommendations as the league attempts to limit the impact of the virus outbreak. The NBA memo recommends that players interacting with fans should bump fists rather than high-five. The league also warned players against taking items such as pens, balls and jerseys to autograph.

Tennis meet cancelled

The women’s Kunming Open tennis tournament, scheduled to begin in April in China’s Anning city, has been cancelled, the WTA said on Tuesday. The April 27-May 3 claycourt event is the second 125K series tournament to be cancelled because of the virus after the Xi’an Open which was also scheduled for April.