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 on Monday 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. "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.