Pakistan players Haider Ali, Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan have tested positive for COVID-19 just a week before the team’s departure to England. This will be a massive blow for the touring Pakistan side which is due to travel England for a series.
Pakistan Cricket Board has confirmed that all three players were asymptomatic and showed no signs until the results came. They will now undergo a period of isolation in Rawalpindi. Usman Shinwari and Imad Wasim were the other players tested but their reports have returned negative.
The trio tested positive just a week after Shahid Afridi tested positive for COVID-19 and has been self-isolating ever since. Former Pakistan batsmen Taufeeq Umar, who was tested positive last month has now fully recovered.
Three Pakistan Cricketers – Haider Ali, Haris Rauf and Shadab Khan have tested positive for COVID 19. None of them showed any symptom and were tested on Sunday ahead of their departure to England for the series. Imad Wasim and Usman Shinwari are tested negative.
— Faizan Lakhani (@faizanlakhani) June 22, 2020
Pakistan to leave for England on June 28
According to the protocols set by the Pakistan Cricket Board, the trio will not join the squad on 28th June when they leave for Manchester. However, it is possible that the players may join the team on a later date.
The people who had come in contact with the three players have been advised to go into self-isolation immediately.
Meanwhile, the team was due to arrive five weeks before the start of the tour as the entire squad would remain in a bubble, which means they will not be in direct contact with anyone other than the squad members.
The PCB had earlier planned a preparatory camp in Pakistan. But with the growing cases in the country, it was nearly impossible to have a bio-secure environment. As a result, the PCB decided to hold the camp in England.
When asked about precautions taken by PCB for the safety of its players, Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB’s) director of sports medicine said,
“We are trying to build a new normal, redefining etiquette respiratory marks, hand washing, It is a combination of many things to make sure that we are keeping safe or reducing the risk factor to the minimum.”
Pakistan has seen a rise in COVID-19 positive cases in the past few weeks which hinted the government to go under a partial lockdown in the country. As of today, the total tally of COVID-19 positive patients has crossed 185K.
Due to the ongoing scare of COVID-19, Mohammed Amir and Haris Sohail opted out of the England tour.
