England allowed to fly to Sri Lanka for Test series despite travel ban

England will be allowed to fly to Sri Lanka for next month’s Tests despite flights from Britain being suspended because of the new variant of Covid-19.

They will fly on a chartered plane and take coronavirus tests before departure and upon their expected arrival in Sri Lanka on 3 January.

They will then spend 10 days in a bio-secure bubble before the first of two Tests starts in Galle on 14 January.

Sri Lanka Cricket say England are “satisfied” with the arrangements.

The country suspended all direct flights from Britain on Tuesday.

Despite a recent spike, Sri Lanka has recorded 38,000 coronavirus cases with 183 deaths.

BBC