The UK have added India to the Coronavirus red list due to the rapid spread of a new Covid-19 variant, effectively banning all arrivals from India.
The International Cricket Council is confident that the World Test Championship in Southampton will not be affected despite the latest decision from the UK government to ban all travels from India to the UK in the wake of the rapid spread of a new Covid-19 variant.
The UK Health Minister, Matt Hancock revealed there had been 103 UK cases of the India variant and on a precautionary basis, they’ve made “the difficult but vital decision to add India to the red list.”
Immediately after this announcement, the ICC managers got into touch with the officials from UK government to discuss the potential impact of the decision on the World Test Championship Final, which is scheduled on June 18-22 between India and New Zealand.
“We are currently discussing with the UK Government the impact of countries being on the ‘red list’. The ECB and other Members have demonstrated how we can stage international cricket safely in the middle of a pandemic and we are confident that we can continue to do that and that the World Test Championship Final will go ahead as planned in June in the UK,”
an ICC spokesman quoted to Cricbuzz.
According to Cricbuzz, Indian team members may require to undergo quarantine before they fly off to London. The discussions are in full swing regarding this within the Board of Control for Cricket in India. It’s unclear whether the players who are already in the bio-bubble with their IPL franchises will have to undergo quarantine once again.
After IPL 13 concluded in UAE, the Indian team had to complete the 14-day quarantine requirement in Australia despite spending two months in the bubble during IPL. A similar situation is likely to occur. The Indian contingent is expected to leave for the UK immediately after the IPL final in Ahmedabad on May 30.
After the WTC final, the Indian team is likely to stay put in the UK to prepare the five-match Test series against England as returning home could mean more quarantine requirements before the series.
