Three More Pakistan Players Test Positive For Covid-19 In New Zealand

In what can be considered as yet another nail in the coffin for Pakistan’s tour of New Zealand to go ahead, three more players of the touring party have returned positive for the global contagion that is Covid-19.

The Pakistan Cricket Team is currently in Christchurch, New Zealand, where they are undergoing 15-day mandatory isolation ahead of their clash against the BlackCaps in a series of three T20Is followed by two ICC Test Championship Tests.

But since the first day of the quarantine, things have continued to go from bad to worse for the tourists.

Six Pakistani players returned positive during the first round of Covid-PCR testing, post which New Zealand Cricket revealed in a media release that it has learned of a few Pakistani players breaching the quarantine rules on the first day itself.

The misdemeanor meant Pakistan’s exemption from being allowed to train despite being in isolation was withheld while the New Zealand government put the tourists on a warning list, saying that another breach of rules could result in the tour getting called-off.

Then on Saturday, the seventh Pakistani player returned positive for the virus.

And, now, according to a report published in AAP, the New Zealand health ministry has confirmed that three more players have been tested positive.

On Monday, 46 members of the squad who had previously returned negative for Covid were re-tested and while 42 of them once again returned negative, three have been placed under investigation to ascertain whether they are historical cases- and therefore not infectious- while one result is still pending.

Pakistan tour of New Zealand is scheduled to kickstart with a T20I at Eden Park, Auckland on December 18.

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