South Africa have been cleared to continue their preparations for the British and Irish Lions tour on Monday after three positive coronavirus tests were returned on Sunday.
The entire Springboks squad was placed in isolation as a precautionary measure after the positive tests, leading to the cancellation of Sunday's training session, but were given the green light to resume training on Monday afternoon following feedback from the medical advisory group overseeing the series.
One of the players who tested positive, scrum-half Herschel Jantjies, has subsequently been cleared to join the training group, SA Rugby said in a statement.
South Africa face two warm-up Tests against Georgia on the next two Fridays, before the three-match Lions series gets under way in Cape Town on 24July.
The Lions also suffered a miserable weekend with captain Alun Wyn Jones and flanker Justin Tipuric being ruled out of the series after suffering injuries in the warm-up fixture against Japan on Saturday.
Earlier the Spingboks cancelled a scheduled media conference as questions over the tour continued just as the visitors touched down in the country.
The Lions are scheduled to play five of their eight matches, including two of the three Tests, in the Gauteng province, which is the epicentre of South Africa's third wave of infections.
Local media reported that organisers were discussing the idea of moving most of the games to Cape Town.
The tourists are due to play their first match against the Johannesburg-based Lions franchise on Saturday.
"The Lions arrived there this morning so they obviously believe it's still going ahead," RTÉ Rugby analyst Bernard Jackman told RTÉ's Morning Ireland.
"How things play out over the next six or seven days could tell a lot.
"There's a strong case to move the Lions and the Springboks to Cape Town and stay in two separate bubbles down there where the levels of cases is a lot lower and potentially get the Test matches played and a few of the warm-up games."
The outbreak has created a major headache for cash-strapped South African Rugby on the eve of a Lions tour they desperately need to succeed to fill the organisation’s dwindling coffers.
Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus played down the threat to the series on Sunday, but clearly there is a cause for concern.
"I’m pretty confident that it’s an isolated case. None of them has symptoms, and we’ll do retesting (when) the medical committee tell us to," the former Munster boss told reporters.
Kolisi boost as South Africa government gives Tour go-ahead
"We just need to follow correct protocol and wait for the committee to tell us exactly what they want us to do next."
The South African government this morning confirmed that all professional sports can continue, but the chances of crowds attending the Tests looks unlikely.
Elsewhere, the entire Scotland squad and coaching staff are going into self-isolation following postponement of their 'A' international against England.
Scotland lost nine players from their squad on Friday following one positive coronavirus test, and the game in Leicester was called off on Sunday, hours before kick-off, after three further positive cases.
A statement from the Scottish Rugby Union read: " The Scotland men’s squad and management team will take a break from training camp to self-isolate following consultation with Scottish Government medical advisers.
"The playing group and management team will return to training next week pending a full round of negative PCR test results."
Scotland are due to go on tour to face Romania on 10 July and Georgia seven days later in full internationals.
