England's ongoing tour of Sri Lanka was on Friday called off in view of the novel coronavirus pandemic, the ECB said, calling the situation unprecedented.
The decision was announced while the English cricketers were playing the second day of their final warm-up fixture in Colombo.
A two-match Test series, part of the World Championship, was due to start in Galle next Thursday.
"Due to the COVID-19 pandemic worsening globally, and after discussions with Sri Lanka Cricket, we have today made the decision to return our players to the UK and postpone the forthcoming Test series between Sri Lanka and England," the ECB said in a statement.
"At this time, the physical and mental wellbeing of our players and support teams is paramount. We will now look to bring them home to their families as soon as possible. These are completely unprecedented times, and decisions like this go beyond cricket."