Some England fans were in Sri Lanka for the warm-up matches before the scheduled Test series

Sri Lanka has closed its border to travellers from the UK, affecting England fans who were still planning to visit the country despite the postponement of the two-Test series.

Even though Joe Root's side arrived home on Sunday, a number of supporters intended to go ahead with holidays.

However, people from the UK, or who have travelled through the UK, will not be allowed into Sri Lanka from midnight local time on Monday.

Some fans are already in Sri Lanka.

Several more were set to depart in the coming days, with the first Test in Galle originally scheduled to have begun on Thursday.

Another, travelling with the official Barmy Army tour group, was held at Colombo's Bandaranaike airport for several hours before being admitted to the country and told he would be the last to do so.

"One of our members, who was held at Colombo airport for several hours, has now been allowed in and has informed the Barmy Army that there will be no more flights following from the UK," said Barmy Army managing director Chris Millard.

"We are aware that over 50 of our members are currently in Sri Lanka and several more have travelled over the weekend. Our official travel programme still had 20 members wanting to go on the trip as a holiday, even with the cricket cancelled, but their flights have now been cancelled too.

"We are in open communications with Sri Lanka Cricket, tour operators and airlines to try to help our members get home safely. If anyone is out there and wants to speak to us, feel free to get in touch."

Source: BBC News

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