CHRISTCHURCH – Six touring Pakistan cricketers were tested positive for the novel coronavirus, said New Zealand Cricket on Thursday.
The team members who have declared positive would be moved into strict quarantine, the governing body said and added squad’s exemption to train while in managed isolation has been put on hold until investigations have been completed.
New Zealand’s ministry of health said 53 team members passed a symptom check before leaving Lahore and were tested on arrival in Christchurch on November 24.
Six of those results have come back positive, although two of the six cases are believed to be “historical”.
New Zealand Health said the players will now “be tested a minimum of four times while in managed isolation” and the entire squad would be confined to their rooms.
New Zealand Health also revealed that “several team members have been seen on CCTV at the facility breaching managed isolation rules, despite clear, consistent and detailed communication of expected behaviours”.
Babar Azam,Muhammad Hafeez
Imam ul Haq,Muhammad Rizwan,Shaan Masood ,Shahid Aslam Tested Positive For #Covid19They tested negative in our tests and just after 18 hours of flight to New Zealand they tested positive. pic.twitter.com/oGrrbxguUJ
— AMIR RAO (@amirrao7) November 26, 2020
“The team as a whole has been issued with a final warning,” it said.
Even before Pakistan arrived on Kiwi soil the tour had been hit by ill health, with Pakistan’s dashing opener Fakhar Zaman ruled out at the 11th hour with a persistent fever.
The 30-year-old left-hander tested negative along with the rest of the squad.
The tour, with three T20Is and two Tests, is scheduled to begin with the opening T20I on December 18 in Auckland.
The preparations for their five-match tour have been thrown into turmoil and causing a scare in a country that has largely eradicated the virus.
