New Zealand Cricket Board (NZC) CEO David White confirmed on Friday (April 3) that the national side's tours to the Netherlands, Scotland, Ireland and West Indies are in "serious doubt". This, with "obvious question marks" also hanging over the tour of Bangladesh in August amid COVID-19 pandemic. 

Kane Williamson and his men are scheduled to travel to UK, Caribbean for ODI league fixtures and to Asia for two important World Test Championship matches. However, those games look unlikely to be played as cricket deals with the impact of the deadly Coronavirus outbreak. 

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"Clearly, this situation is extremely disappointing for everyone involved in sport but, given the bigger picture, and the terrible toll COVID-19 is taking worldwide, we need to look after not only our own people but the greater community good," White told reporters in Auckland.

"Cricket in New Zealand has been fortunate in that we were very much at the end of our home summer programme when this crisis struck."

"However, with the lockdown now in full force, we're mindful of the difficulties facing our cricket community."

Over 800 people have been tested positive of COVID-19 in New Zealand, including one death. 

At the board level, NZC hasn't yet resorted to cutting salaries of its staff to make-up for the losses suffered but has switched to four-day working weeks. The board has also applied to a government scheme which subsidises wages for organisations affected in this phase. 

"We take our duty of care as an employer seriously and, at this juncture, want to avoid any changes to our employee headcount or remuneration levels," White said. "However, we'll continue to closely monitor the effects on the wider cricket family."

NZC further informed that the national women's tour to Sri Lanka, scheduled for later this month, has been suspended. 

(Inputs from Reuters)