The court is deciding whether to extradite Assange to the United States where he is wanted on espionage charges.

"Someone present in courtroom yesterday is being tested for COVID today. Once the outcome is known we will be in a position to update you. The hearing is adjourned until Monday 14th Sept 10am [09:00GMT]," the court host overseeing the video link with the media explained after technical problems prevented journalists from listening to the audio in the courtroom.

CourtNewsUK, which reports from the Old Bailey, London's Crown Courts and UK disciplinary hearings, tweeted that the husband of one of the US lawyers has come down with COVID-like symptoms.

The US Department of Justice is seeking to extradite Assange on 18 espionage and computer misuse charges, which carries a sentence as long as 175 years in prison, for publishing classified information on the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and thousands of US diplomatic cables.

The hearing to decide whether Assange should be sent to the United States resumed on Monday at the London Central Criminal Court, after six months of delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The WikiLeaks founder, who has been locked up at the maximum-security prison of Belmarsh since his arrest at the Ecuadoran embassy in London in April 2019, is attending the trial from behind a glass panel, away from his defense team.

The hearing is expected to last at least three weeks, and it is highly probable that the verdict will be appealed by the losing side.