Coronavirus outbreak 'being monitored daily' ahead of Northants' scheduled trip to Singapore

The County announced their new partnership with the prestigious Singapore Cricket Club and the Singapore Cricket Association last month.

David Ripley and his squad are scheduled to fly out to south east Asia for outdoor warm weather training in four weeks' time, on March 9.

But like many places in the region, Singapore has been affected by coranavirus, and it has been reported that several international cases, including in the UK, can be traced back to the country and a sales conference at a hotel there at the end of January.

As it stands, the County's trip is still going ahead, but the situation is 'being monitored daily'.

It was announced on Thursday morning that the Hong Kong and Singapore legs of the World Rugby Sevens Series have been rescheduled from April to October because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The event in Singapore was due to be staged on April 11 and 12.

"World Rugby, the Hong Kong Rugby Union and Sport Singapore have taken the decision to reschedule the Hong Kong and Singapore rounds of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series 2020 in response to continued health concerns relating to the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak," a World Rugby statement said.

"The health and safety of our players, fans and everyone working on the event is always our highest priority.

"This prudent decision has been taken in order to help protect the global rugby community and the wider public and was taken based on the World Health Organisation and relevant public authority travel and health guidelines."

Northants are due to be in Singapore from March 9 to March 20, ahead of the new cricket season starting in April.

The trip is a key part of the club's pre-season preparations ahead of their return to the Specsavers County Championship Division One.