Melbourne: Cricket Australia (CA) on Tuesday heaved a sigh of relief after players and supports staff of both Australia and England returned negative COVID-19 tests ahead of Day 3 of the third Ashes Test at the MCG.

CA was keeping its fingers crossed after two members of the England support staff and two of their family members had tested positive for the virus ahead of the second day's play due of which the match had got delayed by half-an-hour on Monday.

Hours after the four non-playing members in the tourists' camp tested COVID-positive, CA had conducted rapid antigen tests on all the players and supports staff. Following the completion of Day 2 proceedings, the more reliable PCR tests were also conducted.

On Tuesday, when the outcome of those tests came, CA officials heaved a sigh of relief.

"Players from the Australian and England teams all had PCR COVID-19 Tests after play yesterday (Monday) and all results have come back negative," Cricket Australia said in a statement on Tuesday.

"The families of both sets of players also had PCR tests yesterday and all returned a negative test. The England team's support staff and their family members who tested positive after PCR tests yesterday are in isolation," added the statement.

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