England mainstay Ellis Genge, who tested positive for the coronavirus, will be absent for the test against Australia on Saturday at Twickenham, the English Rugby Federation announced on Friday.
Genge's test, which was to be part of the starting XV unveiled by Eddie Jones to face the Wallabies, turned out to be "
positive Friday morning after a test carried out Thursday morning,
" said the Federation in its press release.
The 26-year-old pillar immediately isolated himself and no further positive tests were seen on Friday.
The English squad, who trained on Friday morning, underwent an additional wave of tests, as they had done after the positive test of Joe Marler, another pillar, on Monday.
The 21-year-old mainstay Bevan Rodd, called on Wednesday to take Marler's place in the squad, will ultimately take over from Ellis Genge.
England captain Owen Farrell missed out on the 69-3 victory over Tonga last weekend after testing positive for Covid-19, a test that turned out to be a false positive.