The tournament, a PSA World Tour Silver event, had been scheduled for April before being pushed back to June because of concerns over the impact of the pandemic on international travel to the country.

It is now set to take place from August 9 to 13.

In a statement, the PSA said it had made the decision to push back the tournament by two months in the hope that contact tracing regulations imposed by the British Government will be eased.

"Athletes travelling internationally to compete at an elite sports event in England are still at risk of being notified of ‘close contact’ with a person travelling on their plane who has gone on to test positive for COVID-19," the PSA said.

"Any players affected by this would then have to self-isolate for 10 days, meaning that they would be forced to withdraw from the tournament."

Fears over the contract tracing rules led to the first postponement of the Manchester Open.

"This decision has not been taken lightly and we understand it will be disappointing for all involved, including our players and fans who were looking forward to seeing top class squash return to Manchester," said PSA chief executive Alex Gough.

"However, for the health and wellbeing of all of our players, as well as the integrity of the tournament, we feel there is no other choice at this stage in order to protect all involved.

"We remain confident that the tournament will go ahead as planned in August, while we are also hopeful that we will be able to welcome back spectators to a UK event for the first time since March 2020. 

"With the Allam British Open also set to take place that month, August promises to be an exciting month for squash fans around the world."