Adopting a safety first approach, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Monday (March 8) decided to shut offices at its headquarters in Lahore after a senior official tested positive for COVID-19.
According to a PTI report, PCB has asked its employees to work from home.
The COVID-19 case came in the wake of the postponement of Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2021 after six cricketers and a support staff returned Coronavirus positive.
A reliable source confirmed to PTI that the infected official had not been in Karachi for the PSL but he had visited the training camp set up at the high performance centre in Lahore for Pakistan and bench players.
“The Lahore based players like Azhar Ali and Muhammad Abbas were all going home after the training but now the board has suspended the camp and will announce fresh dates with all players now to undergo fresh COVID tests as the board has also launched contact tracing of the official,” he said.
According to reports, bio-secure protocols were not obeyed diligently during the PSL 2021 while the medical personnel didn’t conduct COVID-19 test immediately on Fawad Ahmed despite the Australian leg-spinner reporting about stomach pain and other discomfort.
Even as the cases spike, medical personnel didn’t carry out proper contact tracing and the PCB didn’t suspend the matches for a few days.
Later it came to know that some other players, including Hassan Ali, had also tested positive after a birthday party was organised at the hotel for ex-Pakistan all-rounder Azhar Mahmood by one of the franchises which was attended by players.
(With PTI inputs)
