England assistant coach Steve Borthwick gas revealed the “24/7 camp environment” contributed to Mako Vunipola being stood down as a coronavirus precaution.
Vunipola returned to England from Tonga via Hong Kong and will miss the Six Nations clash with Wales on Saturday but Saracens say he has shown no symptoms of coronavirus and is not self-isolating.
Mako Vunipola will miss England's Six Nations match with Wales on Saturday as he is self-isolating as a Coronavirus precaution after returning to England from Tonga via Hong Kong.https://t.co/DqNWaFeMFC
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) March 3, 2020
The England backroom team have since responded.
“Our medical team looks at our team environment, not other people’s,” Borthwick told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“And that’s the advice we followed. We are a camp-based environment and we stay in together 24 hours a day effectively.
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“Mako didn’t come into camp on the advice of our medical team, who looked into the situation closely and as a precaution they advised us that the best thing for our environment was for him not to come in.
“Mako is not ill, he is not in self-isolation, but the advice we got for our environment from our medical team and the relevant parties they consulted was that he should not come into camp, and that’s the advice we followed.”