Two Team England members have tested positive for Covid-19 upon arrival at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, the host nation’s federation has confirmed.

Team England said of the two positive cases, one has subsequently tested clear and the second is “an asymptomatic case who will follow a test-to-release process.”

The PA news agency understands that both positive tests involve athletes rather than members of the wider support team, something Team England would not officially confirm.

A Team England spokesperson added: “We can confirm two positive Covid cases out of 422 Team England delegates that have been through the welcome centre so far – 0.5%, which is below the UK average rate.”

Team England said it backed the processes put in place by the organising committee, maintaining: “The [organising committee] have our full support with their management of any positive cases should they be identified.”

Nevertheless, the news will come as a blow after Team GB managed to negotiate rigorous testing processes at both the Tokyo Olympics and Beijing Winter Olympics without recording a single in-country positive.

The news comes one day after the New Zealand delegation confirmed one of its athletes had tested positive upon arrival at the Games and is currently in an isolation facility.

Meanwhile, athletes have been facing delays of over five hours in the testing and accreditation process, with all competitors required to submit to PCR tests and await the results.

Tension has been rising at the Athletes’ Village over the length of the delays, with some delegations resorting to sending parcels of food and water to their athletes who are stuck in the snaking queues.

Officials from Birmingham 2022 confirmed the length of the delays but said they were no greater than had been communicated to delegations prior to their arrival.

A spokesperson told PA: “The current average length of time for this process is in line with the estimated time which was communicated to the Commonwealth Games Associations in advance of their arrival.”

The spokesperson confirmed that the organising committee does not currently have any plans to follow Tokyo and Beijing in revealing daily totals of positive results.