India midfielder Navjot Kaur's campaign at the Commonwealth Games came to an abrupt end as she is set to fly back home after testing positive for COVID-19.
The 27-year-old from Kurukshetra had been in isolation for the past two days.
Sonika replaces her in the 18-member Indian women's squad.
India opened their campaign with a 5-0 win over Ghana on Friday. "She has been kept in isolation. Her CT value is not infectious and she has no symptoms. She tested positive in the first test but in the second test her CT value improved and she can't infect others. She has been cleared to fly back to India by the organisers," a team source told PTI.
Navjot is a member of the silver-winning team at the Asian Games in Jakarta and bronze winner from Incheon in 2014.
The 300-plus Indian contingent has been largely free from COVID so far in the Games.
Two cricket team members, Pooja Vastrakar and S Meghana, tested positive in India but have recovered. Meghana has already joined the team and Pooja is likely to join before the third game against Barbados on August 3.
Earlier this week, the Games organisers had said that the Games Village was reporting a dozen cases per day.
The Birmingham Games is the first multi-discipline event since the start of the pandemic to be held without major COVID-19 restrictions.
However, The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has advised the country's contingent to curtail their public appearances and stay indoors in view of the ongoing threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
