India Players Must Return Negative Covid-19 Test Before Entering Chennai Bio Bubble: Report

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has asked the Indian cricket team members to get a COVID-19 test done before they check into the team hotel in Chennai ahead of the first Test of the upcoming series against England. India and England will resume their rivalry next month with the much-anticipated four-match Test series.

The series gets underway on February 5 in Chennai. The second Test will be held at the same venue before Ahmedabad hosts the next two Tests. Following the Tests, both the teams will lock horns in five T20Is and three ODIs. And ahead of the start of the series, the BCCI has asked the players to ensure that they return a negative COVID-19 test.

The instruction has been sent out from team doctor Abhiji Salvi, who had told the players that they should start their life in a new bio-bubble only after their test returns a negative result. The players have now been given time till the morning of January 27 (Wednesday) to get the test done and show their negative results.

“We have been told to be in the hotel by 26th night or 27th morning,” a Team India member told Cricbuzz.

This latest instruction comes after the players were told to return back home and undergo a period of home quarantine for as long as they were going to remain in the house. Meanwhile, the BCCI has also decided to not allow any fan inside the stadium for the first two games. The decision was taken on the request of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). Consequently, no one aside from the players and members of the coaching and support staff will be allowed in to the ground during either the match days or in practice.

“That is what we have been told. No one should enter the ground during match or practice. Even I cannot be inside the ground,” S Ramaswamy, the secretary of the hosts Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA), was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

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