Weeks before India's cricket tour, shutdown looms over South African sport due to new Covid-19 variant

India's tour of South Africa, which includes three Test matches, as many ODIs and four T20Is, is scheduled to start in December but a new variant of Covid-19 has caused alarm in the country and could trigger a disruption of its sporting calendar.

A new Covid-19 variant could wreak havoc with South Africa's sporting calendar in the next two months, which is also the period when the country is scheduled to host the Indian cricket team in three Tests, as many ODIs and four T20Is over seven weeks.

The cases are on the rise in the northern part of the country and at least two venues for the Test series - Johannesburg and Pretoria - could become vulnerable to the spread of the new variant.