Lahore: To ensure the health and safety of players and officials, the Pakistan Cricket Board on Tuesday announced comprehensive COVID-19 protocols for the 2020-21 domestic season.
The domestic season is slated to begin from September 30 with the National T20 Cup. Right from the start of the season squad members, match officials, duty doctors, and security managers will be placed in bio-secure zones, where they will be able to roam around and interact with each other freely.
Two negative COVID-19 tests
To ensure that the bio-secure zone is coronavirus free, they will be required to return two negative Covid-19 tests.
“Members of the First XI and Second XI squads are required to submit the results of their first Covid-19 tests by 16 and 18 September,” the PCB said in an official statement.
“Those returning negative results will be invited to PCB designated central stations, where they will undergo second Covid-19 tests under the supervision of the PCB medical team,” it added.
The second tests of the First XI and Second XI squads will be conducted on September 18 and September 21, respectively.
Isolation for five days
Those who test positive in the tests conducted at the central stations will be isolated for five days and tested twice. If these players or support staff personnel continue to test positive, they would have to undergo a two-week-long period of self-isolation and return two negative results before their integration in the bio-secure zone.
The players who toured England with the men’s national team for three Tests and three T20Is will travel to Multan on September 23 and after their second negative test will join their respective domestic teams on September 25.
PCB will conduct the first Covid-19 test for the Under-19 players on 1 October.