The British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa will proceed despite rising COVID-19 cases within both camps ©Getty Images

The managing director of the British and Irish Lions, Ben Calveley, has insisted the tour of South Africa will continue despite one player and a staff member testing positive for coronavirus - forcing a further 12 people within the touring party to isolate.

After one positive result came from a lateral-flow test as part of a screening programme earlier in the day, the Lions confirmed later yesterday that eight players and four members of staff had been placed in isolation at the team hotel following further polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing.

The tourists also announced eight enforced changes to the team to play the Sharks in Johannesburg later in the day, with kick-off delayed by an hour while the latest round of testing took place.

Liam Williams, Anthony Watson, Dan Biggar, Gareth Davies, Tadhg Beirne, Conor Murray, Stuart Hogg and Chris Harris were all removed from the original matchday squad announced for the game, which the Lions went on to win 54-7.

Only one back was on the bench as coaches struggled to make up the numbers.

Scotland captain Stuart Hogg was one of eight players deemed ineligible for the most recent match on the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa following COVID-19 positives in the camp ©Getty Images
Scotland captain Stuart Hogg was one of eight players deemed ineligible for the most recent match on the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa following COVID-19 positives in the camp ©Getty Images

The latest developments are a huge setback to the tour's prospects, with the Lions due to face South Africa in a three-Test series starting on July 24.

But Calveley has ruled out the possibility of finishing the tour in the United Kingdom, insisting the objective is to ensure the series proceeds as planned.

"All the games are important, but the Test series is paramount," he told Sky Sports.

"We're here in South Africa and our intention is to get the games over the line in South Africa.

"We play the match against the Sharks tonight, go on and deal with Saturday and then move to Cape Town on Sunday.

"At the moment there is no intention to deviate from that agreed schedule."

Meanwhile South Africa's scheduled warm-up match against Georgia tomorrow (July 9) has been cancelled because of COVID-19 infections in both camps, including Springbok head coach Jacques Nienaber.

On Tuesday (July 6) it was announced that the Lions' tour match against the Bulls on Saturday (July 10) has also been postponed due to a COVID-19 outbreak within the hosts' team.

Four Bulls players and one member of management returned positive tests which, in combination with their close contacts, made it impossible for them to field a team.

The game will either be rescheduled or an alternative opponent will be found.