![\"South-Africa-vs-Australia-Australia-call-off-Test-tour-of-South-Africa-rapid-news-rapidnews\"](\"https:\/\/dailyrapidnews.com\/eng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/South-Africa-vs-Australia-Australia-call-off-Test-tour-of-South-Africa-rapid-news-rapidnews.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAustralia announced that it has called off the three-match Test series against hosts South Africa over rising coronavirus cases in the country.<\/p>\n
Justin Langer\u2019s men were due to play three Tests against the Proteas, and Australia named their squad last week with the intent to fly out this month but the situation became untenable with the outbreak in South Africa accelerated by a new variant said to be more contagious than earlier strains of the virus.<\/p>\n
With almost 1.5 million detected infections and more than 44,000 fatalities, it has the highest number of cases and deaths on the continent.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Cricket Australia interim chief Nick Hockley said the medical advice was not to travel.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has become clear that travelling from Australia to South Africa at this current time poses an unacceptable level of health and safety risk to our players, support staff and the community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis decision has not been made lightly and we are extremely disappointed, especially given the importance of continuing international cricket at this time. However, we have been consistent since the start of the pandemic that the health and safety of our people is always our number one priority and unfortunately despite best efforts to agree a biosecurity plan, the risks are simply too great at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n
South Africa\u2019s President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday said the country had \u201cpassed the peak\u201d of its second coronavirus infection wave, but the virus remains a major problem.<\/p>\n
Authorities are planning to vaccinate at least 67 percent of the population by year\u2019s end.<\/p>\n
There are currently no contingencies in place for the tour, although Hockley suggested the Tests could be played at a later date.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe look forward to playing the series against CSA at a date to be confirmed in due course,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The tour was originally scheduled for February and March.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Australia announced that it has called off the three-match Test series against hosts South Africa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n