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Australia assistant coach Andrew McDonald says his cricket side are planning to fly to South Africa for a three-Test tour.

Australia are planning for their cricket tour of South Africa to proceed next month, even though that county's COVID-19 crisis has deepened because of a new variant of the virus.

South Africa has reported over 1.26 million cases of coronavirus.

Worryingly, the nation is reporting its highest daily number of infections, hospital admissions and deaths from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.

Cricket Australia (CA) is yet to commit to the three-Test tour of South Africa that is slated to overlap with a Twenty20 tour of New Zealand.

CA was understandably spooked by England's recent limited-overs series in South Africa, which was called off mid-tour after some positive tests among players and hotel staff.

Cricket South Africa's biosecurity protocols - and the governing body's ability to show they will be maintained - will shape CA's decision about the tour.

There is speculation the series could be shifted, potentially to Perth.

Australia's assistant coach Andrew McDonald noted he, fellow members of support staff and players are planning for the tour to go ahead.

"Until we hear otherwise, we're assuming that tour is going ahead," McDonald said.

"We've got some people behind the scenes, working day and night to make sure we do go to South Africa. It's important for world cricket that the show goes on.

"All our planning and preparation, with our quicks and everything at the back end of this series, will be geared around a team going to South Africa."

However, McDonald flagged that the green light may not come until very close to the departure date.

"There's a fair bit to play out there. We saw with the England series that it wasn't ticked off until really late," he said.

"It was four, five days before the team flew over."