Yesterday, the Pakistani Cricket Board (PCB) had revealed that three of its players who are bound to England were tested positive for the Coronavirus. These players were Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, and Shadab Khan. The PCB had organized these 35 tests in Karachi, Lahore, and Peshawar on Monday.
Now today on June 23, 2020, PCB has announced in a press release that further seven players and one team personnel have been tested positive for the COVID-19.
The players who tested positive are Fakhar Zaman, Imran Khan, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Hafeez, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan, and Wahab Riaz. Along with them, team masseuse Malang Ali also tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.
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All of the players and the masseuse are asymptomatic but still tested positive. The PCB medical panel is already in contact with these players and the masseur, who have been instructed to observe strict quarantine at their homes for their and their families’ wellbeing.
Meanwhile, Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Azhar Ali, Babar Azam, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Iftikhar Ahmad, Imam-Ul-Haq, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Abbas, Naseem Shah, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Sohail Khan, and Yasir Shah tested negative for the virus.
Apart from the players' many team personnel also tested negative for the virus and they are Mansoor Rana (manager), Misbah-ul-Haq (head coach), Shahid Aslam (assistant to head coach), Younis Khan (batting coach), Mushtaq Ahmed (spin bowling coach), Abdul Majeed (fielding coach), and Talha Butt (team analyst) among others.
“The recent positive tests of some of the fittest athletes, who had not shown any symptoms, clearly reflect the danger this virus possesses. As such, and on behalf of the PCB, I once again request the public to strictly adhere to all safety precautions as advised and recommended by the federal and provincial governments to ensure their health and safety as well as of their dear and near ones,” PCB CEO Wasim Khan said.
“As regards the players, who have tested positive, we will continue to monitor and support them, including conducting antibody tests, and as soon as they test negative, they will be flown to join the squad in England. At the moment, they have been advised to go into self-isolation so that they not only recover quickly but also prevent their other family members from being infected,” he added.
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Wasim also said that the tour to England was on track and the players and personnel who have tested negative will assemble in Lahore on June 24 and will undergo a second round of testing on June 25. Players whose results come out negative in the June 25 testing will then travel on a chartered plane to the UK.
They will be checked on arrival by ECB’s medical panel and players and player support personnel, who will test negative will observe a quarantine period as per UK government’s regulations, while being allowed to train and practice in a bio-secure facility.
Players who test positive in pre-departure testing will be in-home isolation and on completion of the minimum quarantine period, will be tested again until two of their tests come back negative. They will then be sent to the UK on commercial airlines.
(pcb.com.pk inputs)
