With setting rules for the players, England's Cricket captain Joe Root on Monday said his players will not be shaking hands on their tour of Sri Lanka in a bid to avoid the spread of coronavirus. Even though Srilanka has not many cases of it, it's still advised to follow precautionary measures to avoid the worst coming forward.

 Root was guided on the coronavirus as England prepares to depart for their two-Test tournaments. The batsman said instead of shaking hands, England players will greet each other with fist bumps.  The England team was hit by a series of gastroenteritis and flu problems before and during the first Test on their recent tour of South Africa early this year and they want to take necessary steps to avoid further health issues.

"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 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.

The health officials mention that it’s a very wise decision by the team to avoid the global virus and be safe as much as a person can.

"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."

England will play the first of two practice games against a Sri Lanka Board Presidents XI in Katunayake on Saturday ahead of the Tests, which will form part of the ICC World Test Championship.

England won 3-0 in Sri Lanka two years ago but Root is expecting a tougher challenge this time. As the players are much more experienced then the last match played.

The officials and the medical team from both the cricket teams are well equipped to handle and provide the needed precautions and they also advise a similar format to be followed by the other teams playing in the future days.